cedreamge

I met some Christian Syrian refugees while I lived abroad in Amsterdam. If I am not mistaken, one of them was named Fadi and he was from Raqqa. He was 12 and saw his friend be shot and killed before his eyes. His family chose to walk to Turkey then get a plane to the Netherlands. Was there really no difference in treatment? Or was it civil war being civil war? Did you and your family never consider asylum?

How do the protests really look like? Do you think the situation can be compared to other moments such as the unrest following Rodney King? How do you think today differs from yesterday?

If you mean as a passenger/guest, you do save some money if you buy them before coming on board and you can even try to book with companies that aren't affiliated with the cruise line. But you have to keep in mind that 1) the cruise company reserves the discretion to cancel tours due to unavailability or not reaching a minimum of participants and 2) if you buy with another company and there's a change of port due to bad weather or anything, they might not refund you but the cruise will!

As a crew member, and especially working in Excursions, we can go to any excursion for free and it counts as working hours - some coworkers may work 9h a day but they really just took the transfer to Florence which is a 9h excursion. If family or friends come on board, they also may be able to go for free though it may vary with the manager and if you're from a different department you may have to stick with the family/employee discounts.

Yes, that's one of the benefits of booking with the cruise as well, but it usually doesn't matter as most excursions are relatively short compared to the amount of time you get onshore.

So, the amount of hours we work weekly can vary a lot depending on how full the ship is, how many people are buying excursions and the manager's mood. One week I may work 40 hours, the other 60, and so forth. The one thing is that, with the exception of some very rare occasions, there are no days off. Work can take up 6-9h a day. When we aren't working, we can go onshore if in port or do something on board. Each ship is different, but there's always a crew bar or lounge. And depending on the situation (aka amount of covid cases and how cool the master/captain is), there are crew events. In my last ship, we had crew parties once or twice a month and there was even a karaoke night once. The bingo was postponed and I was transferred before I could take part! I do wonder who won!

After our contract is over (it can last from 5-8 months, depending on department), we usually get 1-2 months vacations and then come back on board. During that time there are some people that go back to work in their home country - musicians will still have gigs and tour around, and some Excursions staff are local guides in their respective countries! Other people just chill and enjoy their well earned vacation.