Seabourn Crew Members

Before I go on about our trip, let me at least speak of some of the crew members we met on shipboard. I don't know how they manage to select these fine young people, but they are from all over the world. Gael from France had one of the funniest senses of humor I have ever encountered. He would make a seemingly sarcastic remark with a completely deadpan face but he had a sharp wit. Just a loveable guy. He insisted on reading my book Tears and Tales so we mailed him a copy. He likes to go home and sleep late, except his mother keeps waking him up and telling him to do something useful. All these kids work twelve hour shifts for three to eight months at a time.

Then there was Kevin who we saw most nights at dinner. From South Africa, his father is a doctor practicing in England, his brother is a dentist practicing in Ireland, his mother lives in South Africe at the main dwelling and his girlfriend was waiting until his eight month tour was over so they could get married. It's not often one gets an invitation to South Africa. We may just take him up on it.

Kevin was on the taller side, usually wore a vest and did a little two step dance somewhat reminiscent of Groucho Marx. But a kinder person one never meets. When we had 12 foot seas and Virginia suffered mal de mer (sea sickness for those who do not speak French), Kevin insisted on bringing her some ginger. Ginger is an old remedy for an upset stomach. Now, he didn't send it down with one of the staff. He brought it down himself to our suite to see how she was doing.

We never finished a meal and left the Veranda restaurant without him giving Virginia a warm hug and me a hearty handshake or arm around the shoulder. It was a sad day when we had our last meal there. Kevin seemed to hang around through most of our meal. At times he seemed afraid to make eye contact. I think if he had, we all would have cried.

Then there was Mihai from Romania whose wife was also on board. The company allows them to work the same ship and to room together. They also get perks if patrons write about them and compliment their handling. Now Mihai and I met on the first cruise when he kept accidentally bumping into me. I may have said this before but I'll repeat it.

As he passed the last time, I looked up at him and said: "You don't want to break your record now, Mihai. You haven't missed me yet." I guess he felt comfortable with us on the second cruise because he smiled at me and said: "I don't bump into you deliberately. I bump into you because I don't like you." And with that, he gave me a smile and Romanian bear hug. On the day we left he came up from his post downstairs to wish us well and to say goodbye. I never saw a more sad face and yet we've known him only a short time. I guess if I had been looking in a mirror, my own face would not have been so happy either.

Mihai wasn't the only one from Romania. Carmen was also from there and I kept thinking she was Cuban or Spanish because she had a cream-colored complexion, chunky features and long, brown hair. Turns out she is from Romania and told me something I did not know -- Romania is a Latin country and not Slavic as I always believed. They have many words similar to Spanish.

Be that as it may, Carmen made absolutely sure we had everything at our meals that we wanted. If they dind't have it one day, she made sure they had it the next.

We met so many friends on board it would be hard to define them all. I did write to the company and compliment each and every one and, if we take another cruise, it will be because of these wonderful kids who work endless hours to make the passengers comfortable.

Someone very special to me was a six-foot-eleven inch German lad named Gunnar. He was the wine captain. When Virginia asked for Frangelica, he said they did not carry it on board. But the next day he had six bottles brought in from the mainland. (Virginia did not drink all six!) He knew I was a brandy drinker so after each meal, he raced down two flights of stairs to the main bar and came back with one brandy and one Frangelica.

The night we had the rough seas it was positively amazing to see him maneuver that super tall frame of his as dishes and settings were crashing to the floor. At one point the ship listd so badly, my chair slid four feet to my left, leaving my food on the table (the tables are fixed to the floor) and me sitting out there in space. But the next thing I knew, Gunnar was pushing me and my chair back to the table so I could continue eating.

We had twelve foot waves that night crossing the Mediterranean and there were only three diners in the Veranda. I still do not know how I didn't get sick. Too scared holding onto my food, I guess. At one point things got so bad, Gunnar actually stood behind me and held my chair in place. There is nothing funnier than the smile on his face when I would say: Gunnar, schnell, schnell mit der brandy.

He asked me if I spoke some German. I told him that any German I spoke would get me in trouble, either with the authorities or my wife. Just to make him laugh, I recited the only German I had ever learned which came from an Army guy who had served in Germany. In short, the phrase said that sleeping with a woman was very, very good, but sleeping with the burgomaster, al es kaput. (all is finished.) I never saw a guy laugh so hard in my life. I think it was my German pronunciation.

I have to say that when God made nice people he put an awful lot of them on Seabourn and we were fortunate to have them and to meet them. They will always be in our hearts, our prayers and our thoughts.