A Fond Farewell to the Shop Staff on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of The Seas

When I ended my 3 week (3 cruise) Trunk Show on The Freedom I said good bye to a great group of kids from the Shop Staff.  In this picture Is Tanya who was my next door neighbor from Jamaica.  And next to her is Tyrone from Trinidad, show was my Internet connection.  Tyrone can tell you where the best places to get the Internet in any port he has traveled too.

And here are the two Inch of Gold Shoppies.  They were right next to my table when I would be on the Promenade the night before my event to promote it.  Owen is from Jamaica and is a sweet guy who helped me with a lot of things, Thanks Owen!  And Nora is I think from Spain, also sweet and fun to talk with.  They both can make a mean bracelet or necklace, lol.

Here are Tanya and Jia in front of the Fine Jewelry store.  Tanya(the girl next door) is a sucker for a picture, lol.  Jia is from China and so cute I would tell her she is so cute I just want to make her small and put her in my pocket.  She is always smiling and happy.  It is very interesting to have a conversation in English with her accent.  But she is a good sport about it.  Say Emerald Jia, lol.  Sweet, sweet girl.




And here is a very special young lady from Portugal, I believe.  She spent so much time helping me sell and when it was slow I got to know her very well.  She is married to a nice guy that works in the Casino and is also on the same ship.  I think that is nice for a married couple to be on the same ship.

Aron is a funny guy that works mostly in the Liquor Store when you go into the store ask him to give you a taste of the black and white Irish liquor, it's delicious.

Owen and Daniel, from India, up to no good with their favorite bottles of alcohol.  Daniel stay well

And here I am, not a good picture of me, but I am with the Assistant Shop Manager Elaine from Spain.  She is always working hard.  Whatever ship she is on you will always see her walking fast up and down the Promenade.  Thanks for everything Elaine!

I do want to add a short note as to how hard these kids work.  Being a former Shopie myself, 15 years ago with Princess Cruises, I realize how good I had it when I worked a 8 month contract.  These kids work and where from 6-8 months out at Sea.  Leaving their families behind to help pay the bills and sometimes as leaving home as soon as 2-3 months after giving birth.  They are on call 24-7 while on the ship.  Every crew member is required to preform whenever there might be an emergency so they practice sometimes when we are in Port with Crew drills and during the first day of the cruise to show passengers in the event of an emergency where to go and what to do.  As a passenger while in the Port you can hear the alarms form the ship go off and when you do they are working.  Anyway back to the Shoppies (that is crew terminology) while on the ship along with being on call they can work anywhere  from 12-15 hr days on Sea days (with 3-3.5 hr breaks) and from 6-8 hr days on Port days.  On a turn around day, which is the day when passengers end their cruise and a new group begin a new one, there are what they call stores where they take on any supplies and merchandise needed to keep the shops fully stocked. This can be hard work lifting boxes, unpacking, stocking and in a very small space.
So when you meet a shopie try to treat them with a little TLC because I think they could use it.  They are young, far away from home and most likely a little tired but always with a smile.

So I said my good byes the night before I left the ship with hugs and warm wishes.  We all said that we hoped to meet on another ship.  But the Sea is vast and the fleet is large that the chances are few.  But we will always be able to meet up on Face Book in the future.