Jam and Holy Shi…….p

Charters

Quite often the MSC Divina plays host to large groups and partial charters (where a group is large enough to take over half but not all of the ship). Let’s see, recently we have had the Irish Music group, the Polka group, the French-Canadian Country Music group, there was even a much feared VEGAN charter (I had a non vegan guest whisper fearfully in my ear “will they make us eat vegan food??”).

and of course the Drag Queen partial charter….we will let the pics speak for themselves…

Now these partial charters are fun, but mixing the often, eccentric, with the everyday passenger does lead to problems or an uncomfortable situation…

Such as this event during the Drag Queen Charter. One of our artists, a big strong guy from Poland, and I were at the crew gym. He was lifting weights and I was stretching, all of a sudden we both look up and here is this 7ft Amazon wearing….glitter! Yup a touch of glitter on all the vital areas. Needless to say both of us were speechless as “she” (recently), said “excuse me but where’s the bar?”…. My brain couldn’t even comprehend this comical nature of this event, so all I could do was guide her to the elevator, through the crew area (with numerous guys passing out from lack of blood to the brain). At the elevator I did mention “ummm you are beautiful but we ummm have kids and well husbands onboard..”. My mate was still holding the weight in the same position when I returned to the gym!

Then there are the occasions where we also have FULL charters, this is when a group takes over the entire ship. They usually take over the program, the entertainment, sometimes even the menu… These usually mean a lot of the crew get downtime.

This particular week included the legendary JAM CRUISE followed hotly by the infamous HOLY SHIP!

Now you might be asking me… Holy whatsamacallit???? Yup these are two insane, crazy, wonderful party cruises.

Everybodies Jammin’

JAM CRUISE is the… how do I say this in a politically correct way… the HIPPIE cruise, there is an older crowd and a lot of “medicinal” smoking, all over the ship (our cabin stewards were exceptionally relaxed working in the corridors). The crowds were super kind and friendly.

At the beginning of the cruise I walked passed one of the public bathrooms and discovered a large, happy group circling the door. I asked if this was the bathroom greeting committee and next thing I knew I was bedecked with numerous items such as a flashing turtle pin and a flashing necklace, then repeatedly hugged before the group seemingly floated off. A very surreal experience.

The guests were fantastic and the crew was hugged repeatedly. The pool was transformed into a stage:

With great bands from all over including Bob Marley’s band…

And a variety of fun hip bands such as this group, who had a sort of 70’s funk thing happening.

The guests were so laid back that no one even cared when weather prevented us from reaching our final destination of Half Moon Cay, which was a pity as it is the crew’s favorite island.

When the guests headed out the housekeeping staff had a huge job of cleaning up, luckily another charter was following with a similar theme but a younger crowd.

Holy Sh…p!

Holy Ship is pretty much the opposite of Jam Cruise. Jam was chill, Holy was a rave, with DJ’s and famous names like Ferrel Williams and Srillex (or something like that). The guests preferred a variety of recreational aspects… shall we say, that most would enjoy at a rave.

This crowd was fun but insane! Randy youngsters running around all over the place, a few shower doors were broken (apparently 2 is the limit for the shower), lots of girls wearing… stickers (much to the delight of all of the male species), in general life being lived to the max.

Our very own mermaid

Our last two days were on Great Stirrup Cay and Coco Cay. Two private islands right next to each other (which meant we didn’t have to move the ship that night), and two ultimate beach parties, with many famous names spinning the records!

Ok maybe not these guys, these are our versions of famous DJ’s playing at the crew party

These are our DJ sharks enjoying the beach party

Clean-Up

If we thought trying to get the relaxed Jammers out, try getting the hung over Holy’s out… poor housekeeping had their work cut out for them (imagine 3 days of spring break in a contained area after Holy Ship) and we braced for the return of regular demanding passengers. Apparently there were still hand prints and glow in the dark stars on a few cabin ceilings weeks after these 2 particular charters.

Ahhh the joys and tribulations that is a charter!!