The bus arrived in front of the hotel, and it was time for a new adventurous departure in the mystery of the blue ocean. The accumulated cruise ship experience helped me remain calm and focused on the upcoming challenges. Maturity and years of cruise ship experience calm me before a storm.

Knowing all that, I started taking slow, uncertain steps toward the shuttle bus. While putting my baggage on the bus, I heard a beautiful bird chirp on nearby trees. A sunny, bright, and good morning made me feel I could have enough strength and energy to complete one more contract. While the bus was going to the port, I observed the other 50 crew members' anxious faces. Some of them were first time joining the cruise ship as crew members. They were separated from their families for the first time to provide a better future for their loved ones. 

On top of inner insecurity, they wore one fake, sour smile on their faces. But that smiles already meant something, determination, and courage; those crew members were brave enough to explore an unknown sea journey on their own, far away from their countries and families. 

My genuine, unsolicited advice to all of them was to take one day at a time and believe that they need to get out of their comfort zone to grow. 

After 4 hours of drive from Miami to Port Canaveral, we finally arrived at the cruise ship terminal, ready to sign on and prepared to overcome our fears and push our limits to some new, undiscovered heights. A new journey was about to begin.

Upon arrival at the cruise ship terminal, I instantly noticed that the crew members around me looked increasingly anxious. The fear on their faces was apparent; even they were trying hard to cover up with huge fake smiles. We got off the bus quickly, almost in an orderly manner, and all of us lined up in front of the crew members' port terminal. It was not long after the HR coordinator counted all present crew members and ensured everyone got their required documents. Shortly after, in the small, isolated corner of the cruise ship Terminal, we stood in the sun's heat for another hour.

At 1130 am, some loud noises occasionally broke the silence between the joining crew from thousands of guests near the passenger terminal, ready to board the vessel. That was such a striking difference. Crew members, who looked like they were about to be shot, were drained, and most of them were exhausted from the long flights, waiting on the Florida sun's heat for their chance. They needed to impress and comply with company management's demands on board—saving the last drops of energy to stand on their feet. On the other side, just nearby on the passenger terminal, happy, excited guests loudly danced their way into the majestic cruise experience. 

There is a massive misconception about the veteran crew member's ship's status. Mistakenly, many people believed that experienced crew members got used to being away from their families after several years of working on cruise ships. How wrong? It only gets harder instead of getting used to it after years of service onboard the cruise ship. That is why we often hear the sentence from the older crew members, " this is my last contract." I felt the same way on that day. No matter how many contracts I have already completed, I only get harder and harder every time I come back to join the ship. The reason behind; time is inevitably passing by for all of us. Along the way, we learn that there is no pause button where we could somehow "freeze the time" and achieve all of our material goals and then press the button again and start enjoying life. In the life master lesson, we learned that material things are not paid for with money; we get paid with time spent away from our family.

It was almost 1 pm when we finally boarded the cruise ship. Security screening, endless documents, and tons of new information are like icing on the cake for newly joined crew members. That is usually the most challenging moment of the entire contract of each individual. Our orientation program is scheduled at 2 pm, and I can see confusion from all the information given for newly signed crew members pretending that they were on top of the game. 

After the onboard safety presentations, meeting department managers, schedules, company expectations, rules, and regulations were given along with safety vests and emergency cards. When the general safety briefing for guests and crew finished around 4 pm, it was time to find our cabins, one of the most critical and exciting factors for most crew members, simply because they will share a 7-square-meter cabin. The cabin felt like a shoebox for someone like me, especially with a random roommate from some of the 72 different nationalities on board.

Upon joining the vessel, the first week onboard is packed with safety meetings and training and is completely overwhelming for any crewmember trying to adjust to ship life. Even for the experienced seaman, it can be way too stressful. Our working hours were different if it was a sea day or port day. Frankly speaking, sea days were never-ending. 

I have to get up around 7 am for a wellness check-in at the ship's medical center on the following sea day. After that, all newly signed crew had to complete four hours of safety training. The training finished somewhere around 1130 am, just in time to grab a quick lunch before work. The official working schedule for me started at noontime. 

Related Article: Crew Embarkation Part 1 - Joining a Cruise Ship

As an "experienced" bartender, I was allocated to one of the busiest bars onboard: a Casino bar on Deck 5 or a Pool bar on deck 10. Every contract is a new beginning because we all have new colleagues, supervisors, and managers; adjusting usually takes weeks. 

My dinner break was at 5 pm, and work continued from 7 pm until 3 am the next day, with a few short breaks. The average working hours on a sea day are 12-16 hours. That should not be an issue if work ends there. Living on board the ship includes other responsibilities besides the job itself. I had to do my laundry around 4 am and wash and iron my clothes and uniform. It was impossible to do that during the day because we had 1500 crew members onboard the ship, and there were only ten laundry machines, far below what was realistically required. My work would finish very late, and it was the only chance to spend another 2 hours and complete this necessary task. Around 6 am, deep into the following morning, when most crew members from different departments were about to start a new day at work, it was finally my time to rest after 24 hours of an eventful and demanding day. 

The solid military discipline I have enforced gave me a sense of purpose and security. Carefully, I opened the heavy metal door of my cabin. It was around 630 am. I have learned the importance of care and respect towards others throughout the cruise ships. Especially when you share the smallest cabin in the world with someone else, mutual respect is much needed and kindly appreciated. Upon entering the cabin door, I slowly opened a small cabinet to remove my clothes and uniform. The goal was to have at least 2 hours of sleep before the mandatory general safety drill scheduled that morning upon arriving at our first port, Montego Bay, Jamaica.