During Celebrity Infinity's port visit to San Francisco in late May, I was given access to six crew members to ask them questions about their daily routine, activities, inside tips, favorite ports and the like.
They were gracious in sharing their first-hand experiences, giving Cruiseable a behind-the-scenes look at what it means to work on a cruise ship as a waiter, a room attendant, the ship captain, the hotel director, and the heads of housekeeping and food and beverage.
We're running this as a four-part series. Here's part 1, Behind the scenes with the crew of Celebrity Infinity, with Q&As with St. Elmore G. Moore, stateroom attendant, and Mila Miroschnychenko, head of housekeeping.
Here's an excerpt from my interview with Moore:
What’s the best thing about your job?
I love meeting people. Whenever I meet guests, it feels like heaven. It uplifts me like I can touch the sky.
In a typical day, how many rooms do you make up?
For me and my assistant, we have about 26 rooms. We start around 8 o’clock in the morning and finish around noontime.
Are you the guys who make up those little towel animals? Tell us about that tradition.
When you go and leave for your dinner, you come back and there is a little bunny on your bed, waiting. You didn’t expect that. It's very creative and makes the guests feel very happy. I had an experience one time, I made an elephant for a guest and she comes up to me crying. She said, “You don’t know how that makes me feel. At home, I have all different types of stuffed elephants and here you are making me one more.” She was literally shedding tears of happiness.
Where do you like to go when the ship is in port?
If the ship is in the Caribbean, I like to go ashore and eat some local food. My food, so to speak. In Alaska, I like to go to KFC and have fried chicken.
Do you have a favorite port?
In Alaska, I like Juneau. You don’t have to walk too far, everything is right there.
For the complete article and photos, see Behind the scenes with the crew of Celebrity Infinity,.
