It's true. In May 2012 the Voyager of the Seas will be re-located to Asia, doing a few cruises out of Singapore, then the rest of the summer will be spent sailing out of Shanghai. In October, the ship will once again be re-located, this time to Australia and New Zealand. Voyager of the Seas will be the largest cruise ship in Asia, and the first with an ice skating rink and indoor promenade. It's odd to think that about how much we take this ship for granted as crew members, or indeed even as guests in Europe and North America. Being almost 12 years old, Voyager of the Seas is nothing new to anyone here, however when we become the first Voyager-class ship to sail out of Asia, this ship represents many firsts that have never been offered on a cruise ship in that part of the world before.
The itineraries have not been finalized yet, but it sounds like we will be doing a few cruises out of Singapore to start with, followed by spending the Summer sailing out of Shanghai, and finally being repositioned to Australia and New Zealand for the winter season. At this point it is not clear if I will be coming back to Voyager for my next contract or going to a different ship. Luckily enough though, our head office sent out an e-mail request to all production managers to ask if they would like to request any specific technicians to stay with their ship for more than one contract. The premise of this is of course to assist in building a knowledgeable team on board, which particularly for techs takes some time as we really need to know the ship bow-to-stern as it relates to our job; but of course it would work in my favour if I get to come back to sail to Asia. It seems likely that my Production Manager, Marie, will submit my name to have me return to this ship as everything in my venues runs smoothly (lighting-wise) while I'm here.
This past Friday and Saturday there was a press conference in Studio B that is part of a program to promote Voyager of the Seas to Italian cruisers while we are in Italy. Everything went off without any problem despite some lack of information being provided in some cases.
Right now I am saving up for a new laptop so I haven't really been out in any of the ports, except a brief couple of hours in Venice. I am looking forward to possibly taking a couple of tours as a Tour Escort. So far it sounds like we don't have any "dud" ports -- that is, ports where there is nothing to do-- on this itinerary, so when I do have the time and money to go exploring I will definitely do so.
