As the sun sets on Mexico
Well actually it wasn't really setting but rather staying up later. I love this longer day thing especially the further north you get. So we said 'Hosta la vista' to Mexico on the 8th of May.
First requirement of this 'repositioning' cruise was to get all the passengers on the ship. Due to the Jones Act (A law from the 1800s implemented by the US government to prevent ships who are not registered in the US from picking up passengers from one US port and subsequently dropping them off in another US port ~ thus acting like a ferry service) we needed to shuttle everyone from San Diego to Ensenada Mexico to get on the ship as we would ultimately be ending the cruise in Seattle WA. This proved to have a few challenges. All check-in staff along with the equipment needed to be transported to Mexico and set up prior to the guests arriving. With the check in process happening in a hotel, it was going to be easy for us, no network to set up, plug in the laptop, pray there was power and you are done. At least this is what I thought.
As I got ready to leave my cabin, I grabbed my wallet thinking, you know, anything can happen and could you imagine being in Mexico with only 100 Pesos (equivalent of $10 US). We (the check-in girls, myself, 2 cleaners from India and Indonesia and the Chief Concierge who is also Canadian...) boarded the bus after getting a Starbucks, and headed to the border. As we approached the bus pulled into the 'bus lane' and we were presented to the authorities. The bus driver after speaking with the border folks for a few minutes hauled my cleaner Gordon off the bus who was the one who loaded all the equipment. Gordon stands outside shrugging to the official and I can only think this is not good. I make my way outside to be questioned about the contents of the 2 blue cases. Well they have 27 laptops and 27 power supplies, and 27 card swipers... you get the picture. Well apparently even the laptops need papers now days to pass into Mexico. While the port agent had been doing this previously and had NEVER needed paperwork, I was now being asked to provide temporary import papers for the hardware. Oh goody ~ give me the pages. Oh, they aren't at this crossing ~ I need to go somewhere else, where they don't allow buses. Hmmm, things were getting more complicated by the moment. As we called to the agent, we were advised by the Mexican border patrol that we were going to be denied entry and the bus was to turn around. Well that is all well and good except for my cleaners Nelson and Gordon ~ who don't have their passports with them ~ only their I-95 and crew cards... Dilemma number 2, these two are now denied re-entry into the US as they require a C1-D visa in order to enter the country by land. Jeepers! Thank god I remembered my wallet!
We managed to find someone to take the load of equipment ~ as we hauled it into a rental mini-van ~ those shocks will never be the same!! They were able to get the equipment down to the hotel and amazingly beat us to the location. Nelson and Gordon after spending an hour in 'never never land' between the US and Mexico, were picked up by the bus as we were granted entry to Mexico. Who would have thought I could possibly be denied entry to Mexico?!?
The remainder of the day went well. Nothing like hanging out in the hotel and just watching the people arrive. Stef and I had 2 days until Panos came in San Francisco to join the ship. These 2 days were spent trying to get everything in order that we had left 'until later'. Stef continued to belly ache about whether or not Panos would actually arrive and stressed about what would happen if he didn't. Then once he did arrive, the concern shifted from not having a replacement to not having a ticket to leave the ship as the crew purser was new and didn't know how to book a ticket. Yes that is right, he was not able to book a ticket for a crew member who signed off and as a result ended up being stranded in the airport. As it is the companies responsibility to repatriate the crew member after their contract is done, the company faced fines for leaving the poor soul there. Rumour has it that the status of his papers was changed to termination making the responsiblity for the flight then the crew members, and he was then subsequently held by Border Protection ~ however I don't know this for sure, but could you imagine... Thank god I have a Gold card and knowledge of how the airline industry works!!
The next 4 days saw me running around like crazy packing, finishing up tasks that seemed to be ongoing and generally trying to get Panos ready to be on the ship alone for a month until his assistant came... Well as it turns out, I find out today, she is not returning so the poor bugger will be there alone ~ again.
I did manage to get out to see Ketchikan and Juneau which was pretty cool as I hadn't been to Alaska before. I can see how 4 months might be a bit much, but I could definitely see a few runs through there as being a pretty cool experience. We also ran into the Summit who blew a pod (part of the engine) and had to revamp their itinerary which was cool for me as I met George who is the Manager on Summit and helped me out a lot when I was on CS. Always good to put a face to the name!
Juneau saw me depart the Mercury and begin my 2 months of vacation ~ which is going to be quite the experience and I hope I am better at keeping the blog up to date on this... =)
First requirement of this 'repositioning' cruise was to get all the passengers on the ship. Due to the Jones Act (A law from the 1800s implemented by the US government to prevent ships who are not registered in the US from picking up passengers from one US port and subsequently dropping them off in another US port ~ thus acting like a ferry service) we needed to shuttle everyone from San Diego to Ensenada Mexico to get on the ship as we would ultimately be ending the cruise in Seattle WA. This proved to have a few challenges. All check-in staff along with the equipment needed to be transported to Mexico and set up prior to the guests arriving. With the check in process happening in a hotel, it was going to be easy for us, no network to set up, plug in the laptop, pray there was power and you are done. At least this is what I thought.
As I got ready to leave my cabin, I grabbed my wallet thinking, you know, anything can happen and could you imagine being in Mexico with only 100 Pesos (equivalent of $10 US). We (the check-in girls, myself, 2 cleaners from India and Indonesia and the Chief Concierge who is also Canadian...) boarded the bus after getting a Starbucks, and headed to the border. As we approached the bus pulled into the 'bus lane' and we were presented to the authorities. The bus driver after speaking with the border folks for a few minutes hauled my cleaner Gordon off the bus who was the one who loaded all the equipment. Gordon stands outside shrugging to the official and I can only think this is not good. I make my way outside to be questioned about the contents of the 2 blue cases. Well they have 27 laptops and 27 power supplies, and 27 card swipers... you get the picture. Well apparently even the laptops need papers now days to pass into Mexico. While the port agent had been doing this previously and had NEVER needed paperwork, I was now being asked to provide temporary import papers for the hardware. Oh goody ~ give me the pages. Oh, they aren't at this crossing ~ I need to go somewhere else, where they don't allow buses. Hmmm, things were getting more complicated by the moment. As we called to the agent, we were advised by the Mexican border patrol that we were going to be denied entry and the bus was to turn around. Well that is all well and good except for my cleaners Nelson and Gordon ~ who don't have their passports with them ~ only their I-95 and crew cards... Dilemma number 2, these two are now denied re-entry into the US as they require a C1-D visa in order to enter the country by land. Jeepers! Thank god I remembered my wallet!
We managed to find someone to take the load of equipment ~ as we hauled it into a rental mini-van ~ those shocks will never be the same!! They were able to get the equipment down to the hotel and amazingly beat us to the location. Nelson and Gordon after spending an hour in 'never never land' between the US and Mexico, were picked up by the bus as we were granted entry to Mexico. Who would have thought I could possibly be denied entry to Mexico?!?
The remainder of the day went well. Nothing like hanging out in the hotel and just watching the people arrive. Stef and I had 2 days until Panos came in San Francisco to join the ship. These 2 days were spent trying to get everything in order that we had left 'until later'. Stef continued to belly ache about whether or not Panos would actually arrive and stressed about what would happen if he didn't. Then once he did arrive, the concern shifted from not having a replacement to not having a ticket to leave the ship as the crew purser was new and didn't know how to book a ticket. Yes that is right, he was not able to book a ticket for a crew member who signed off and as a result ended up being stranded in the airport. As it is the companies responsibility to repatriate the crew member after their contract is done, the company faced fines for leaving the poor soul there. Rumour has it that the status of his papers was changed to termination making the responsiblity for the flight then the crew members, and he was then subsequently held by Border Protection ~ however I don't know this for sure, but could you imagine... Thank god I have a Gold card and knowledge of how the airline industry works!!
The next 4 days saw me running around like crazy packing, finishing up tasks that seemed to be ongoing and generally trying to get Panos ready to be on the ship alone for a month until his assistant came... Well as it turns out, I find out today, she is not returning so the poor bugger will be there alone ~ again.
I did manage to get out to see Ketchikan and Juneau which was pretty cool as I hadn't been to Alaska before. I can see how 4 months might be a bit much, but I could definitely see a few runs through there as being a pretty cool experience. We also ran into the Summit who blew a pod (part of the engine) and had to revamp their itinerary which was cool for me as I met George who is the Manager on Summit and helped me out a lot when I was on CS. Always good to put a face to the name!
Juneau saw me depart the Mercury and begin my 2 months of vacation ~ which is going to be quite the experience and I hope I am better at keeping the blog up to date on this... =)
posted by Carrie @ 1:11 PM
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