Life behind the scenes on the cruise

It is always fun to meet and eat with other passengers on a cruise.  I am always surprised at the number from other countries.  There were several Canadians from Vancouver and several from Australia.   Man of them have a thick brogue, making understanding them difficult.  There were others from Scotland and England also.  The crew was more diversified this time as well.  Most were still from the Philippines but there were many from India.  One of the better entertaining duos were from India as well.  All spoke nearly perfect English.   One young lady who worked in the Guest services became a good friend of mine.  In fact she even arranged to have dinner with us. 

She us married to another member of the crew who was on vacation.  The contracts with the workers run for 8 months before they have a 2 month vacation to visit families.  Nieshel, in the picture, will rejoin her husband on another NCL ship in January. 

We have sailed so many times with NCL that we are Platinum Latitudes members.  With this we receive many perks: 3 free laundry privileges (normally $29.99 each), 4 dinners at specialty restaurants (normally $20 per person), a free behind the scenes tour of the ship, a plate of chocolate covered strawberries (Evelyn’s favorite), priority disembarkation at the end of the cruise and probably something I have forgotten.  I will show some of the tour of the back of the house.

The green/costume room for the entertainers.

LuAnn and Evelyn standing on the stage of the theater.

This is the view from the bridge.  Since 9/11, no one but the captain and officers can go inside.

These are some of the awards and certificate for the ship.  There is also a collage of the officers.

This is the main galley.  Everything on the ship is freshly cut and cooked. 

Every salad is from scratch.

We could talk with all the cooks and chefs, but, strangely, Evelyn chose to not do that.  It was a very entertaining to see the pristine food preparation area.