Thursday, April 19, 2018

Downtown Abbey



Yes, I know it was Downton Abbey, but for some strange reason, I continue to call it Downtown. So, this long-running series was the popular story of the overlapping worlds of the rich and entitled and the folks who waited on them. A cruise ship seems to have a social situation very much like Downton. There are the cruisers and there is the staff.

The staff on a boat clearly functions as a hierarchy. I guess this was also the case at Downton, but I did not pay enough attention to know the relative rank of the butler, footman, driver, stable boy, and various maids and cooks. The boat staff has an elite (the captain, chefs, directors of various types, and entertainers). Getting your photo taken with one of the elites is easy enough, but the popularity of doing so does indicate their star status. Then there are the cooks, room attendants, baristas, dishwashers, waiters, and waitresses. Everyone is very polite and friendly and makes a great effort to greet you and to engage in conversation.

I find the working class on the boat the most interesting and we have had several lengthy conversations with some who work in this capacity. We have yet to meet anyone of this group from the U.S., but beyond this exclusion they are from everywhere. Their lifestyle is what intrigues us. They are not youngsters doing this as a way to subsidize seeing the world. Most we have spoken with have more than a dozen years of service and are often married with kids. They spend many months “on duty” between a break and a chance to go home. You get to know certain of these folks because some interact with you each day. We sit within an assigned area of the dining room we use for dinner and see the same individuals each evening.

We have multiple conversations with Agus and Christopher who agreed to let us take their picture. Agus is from Indonesia and Christophe is from India 


Agus


Christopher


Aside from questions such as where they came from and how long they have been working on cruise ships, we probably had the most lengthy conversions with Christopher. He was a college graduate with a degree in civil engineering and a second type of engineering I didn’t quite catch. He worked at some lower level jobs and in a shipyard. He told me he knows that teachers work hard because he had tried to teach welding. He was unable to get a higher paying engineering job in India because he said there are some many good engineers and the competition is very difficult. To support his family and pay back his college debt (he said engineering books are very expensive), he decided he would have to do something else. Somehow, he made a connection with the cruise ship industry and has been working now for many years.

When I asked him about his training and being away from home for long periods of time, he seemed quite philosophical. Referencing his Catholic faith, he said things work out and you need to keep moving forward. 


By the way, the cruisers also are of different ranks. I like tp differentiate them as those with an all you can drink card and those without. We are part of the “without”. 

1 comment:

  1. We met one worker from the US in the 5 cruises we've taken. He said initially the workers said he wouldn't last, that Americans wouldn't like the working conditions on ship and time required. Interesting.

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