While our ships have been in layup, the experience on board has been a little different to usual. We caught up with Gordon Marshall, Hotel General Manager, Ventura to find out what’s been happening on board.
Keeping fit and well
We currently have socially distanced spin classes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and socially distanced early morning yoga, twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday.
The sessions are run in the Guest gym and are really popular with colleagues wanting to switch off from the day, those who are keen to keep up their physical fitness … and those over compensating on the food right now!
It’s not just about physical fitness though, we’ve also been encouraging ship’s company to take part in a monthly medical boot camp, inviting everyone to seek nutrition, diet and exercise advice from our on-board medical team.
Staying entertained
Staying entertainedThe big excitement this month was the hotly contested darts tournament that finished in a battle between the three departments. Representing deck was Deputy Captain Archie, Technical was represented by our Emirty, 1st Carpenter and Hotel was the Philippine Phantom himself Venjo, our Hotel Auditor.
With lots of vocal support from the crowd and tunes played by our resident DJ, Captain Derek Gray the winner was Venjo who was thrilled to be presented with his very own box of virox wipes (and £15 Amazon voucher) – he also just celebrated his 10 year anniversary with Carnival UK!
Learning new skills
We had a visit from two Fleet Trainers last week and used the visit to get six ship’s company qualified on Pallet Trucks including three Hotel Assistants, our F&B Manager, our Hotel Operations Manager, and myself.
These days we all have to be cross trained and ready to roll up our sleeves. One of the Hotel Assistants, Sunil Babulal, had been hoping to get his license for two years.
“On my last tour I had been working in stores and apart from hoping to learn new skills to help my career, operating pallet trucks it just looks like lots of fun”
Sunil Babulal, Hotel Assistant
We’ve also been training several members of the team to be mental health aware.
Getting to know each other
One of the positive things to come from our operational pause is having a greater opportunity to learn more about our colleagues.
One game that many of the European officers were unaware of is the ancient Indian game of Carrom. A mix of pool and air hockey it is very popular amongst the Indian members of the ships company.
This month Ventura had its first tournament and our deck housekeeper, Rajeesh, squeaked a narrow victory over the Food storekeeper Joame. The Laundry manager, Anand, came in third (which was only fair as earlier in the game he had eliminated me!)
Thank you to Ventura for sharing their news. We love to hear from everyone who works on board our ships.
If you’ve been hosting events, celebrating new skills, or just have an interesting story to share email us