Hi Everyone!

This is the first article I’m writing since I boarded AIDAperla.

It has been a very different experience from the one I had before on CORVO and for that very reason it is enriching.

Arrival to AIDAperla:

When I first came on board, I didn’t know where anything was because the ship is just gigantic.

Even the bridge, this one can fit like 3 like the one from my previous ship.

There’s so much new equipment and the phone is always ringing. We also have more officers from the deck department than the total number of crew members of CORVO.

Getting used to my new ship:

I think it took me one week to start remembering the basic directions inside the ship, and what I was supposed to be doing.

After the adaptation time we can start to learn new stuff and get to know new people.

My previous route:

The route I did before the pandemic went around several of the islands in the Caribbean:

 

  • La Romana- Dominican Republic
  • Oranjestad;
  • Willemstad
  • Kralendijk
  • Saint George’s
  • Bridgetown
  • Kingstown
  • Castries
  • Roseau
  • Poine-a-Pitre
  • John’s.

 

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity of visiting all of them. But I guess I did visit at least the ones I really wanted to know.

In my first month on board I actually wasn’t on the bridge that much, I did a lot of cross-training to get to know what’s happening inside the cruise.

I did some deck work, like painting the pool, I was with the fire patrol, went to work some days on the hospital and spent two weeks on the engine room.

COVID-19:

Now, due to this world crisis that happened all around the globe with COVID19, I’m on a cruise without passengers, a cruise without a destination.

We haven’t had any passengers on board since March 18th, and sometimes it is kind of sad because they are the ones that give life and purpose to cruises. But at least I know that here my colleagues and myself are safer than I would be at home.

For us the COVID19 means to be at anchorage most of the time in Bridgetown, Barbados.

We still don’t know when the ship is going back to Europe, for now, we’ll stay put here!

I wish everyone the best in this difficult time and want you to remind yourselves that it doesn’t matter how bad a storm maybe, eventually all of them pass!

Stay strong at HOME!