During my second year as port agent for the Wind Star and Wind Spirit my groans when I saw the ships’ itineraries for the year could be heard clear to south-side! Both ships would be arriving at 8:00 A.M. on December 24th, one of the most chaotic days of the year at the Pizzeria. Dealing with one ship on that particular day was bad enough, but TWO? Christmas Eve Day was going to be a nightmare, having to cope with two ships as well as the Pizzeria was not going to be easy, and as the day approached my feelings of impending doom grew.
In preparation for the day I worked like a beaver to stockpile the Christmas baking. Once the ships arrived my time would be spent dealing with issues other than cookies and mince tarts, the Pizzeria would have to manage without me. I carefully baked and wrapped the Christmas sweets, topping each dozen with red and green ribbons. Advance orders had been filled, the children’s stocking-stuffers were wrapped, and the staff schedule was arranged so that my absence from the restaurant would not be TOO disastrous.
I knew from the previous year that the ships’ crews dreaded the Christmas cruise. The comment cards were always filled with negative remarks by unhappy passengers, and those comments were read and remarked upon by the head office personnel in Seattle. According to the crew members I talked to, the ships were booked by unhappy people over the Christmas Holidays – lonely people who had no family to celebrate with, divorced fathers with sulking children, grouchy old widows and widowers and Jewish people. Lots and lots of Jewish people, who tried to escape the trappings of Christmas in America by taking a Caribbean cruise. In other words, the ships were not overflowing with people looking for a festive time, they were overflowing with grinches!
The day before the Wind Star arrived a fax came through from Herman, the ship’s Hotel Manager. Herman needed me to send a Menorah out to the ship on the first tender, for some reason the one that had been sent from Seattle had not arrived in Barbados. A Menorah? I knew what a Menorah was, but how the hell was I supposed to find one in St. Vincent and the Grenadines? I really liked Herman and tried my best to locate a Menorah, but I knew before I started to search that the ship’s Jewish passengers would have to make do with the Christmas trees on board!
The morning of the 24th the weather was TERRIBLE, squall after squall howled through the bay and it actually worked in my favor. I had been dreading sorting the passengers out for the Mustique excursion, but with such bad weather I was forced to cancel the tour. Getting the ships cleared on Christmas Eve Day was a terrible ordeal, it took forever in the little Customs and Immigration building, which was packed with yachties as well as people trying to clear parcels from overseas. As I shifted impatiently from foot to foot my radio squawked, it was the Hotel Manager from the Wind Spirit looking for his port agent. Answering the radio, I told him I was clearing the ship and would be there as soon as possible. He requested that I purchase and bring on board a large bingo game, the weather was keeping the passengers from going ashore and they needed to be entertained. This was kind of like the Menorah all over again and I didn’t even bother to look for the bingo game. Turning to my friend Sylvester Tannis, the head of Bequia Customs, I asked if it was possible for the ships to open their casinos (they had to stay closed while in Port), the passengers were stuck on board and it would be much appreciated. His kind assent didn’t make the casino personnel happy, they had been looking forward to a day ashore, but the Hotel Managers were both very grateful.
After dropping off the Wind Star’s clearance papers I went (by then soaking wet) on board the Wind Spirit. The Dutch Purser on that ship was not very friendly, certainly nothing like the Purser from Alaska on the Wind Star. She was extremely good at her job and also extremely pretty, but she fell flat in the personality department, that’s for sure! When it came time for her to pay for the dock help she refused. McCarthy (Water Taxi #1), helped the tenders tie at the jetty, and usually received $20.00 U.S. for his efforts. The Purser pointed out that McCarthy had already been paid by the Wind Star, and once was enough. He had to be on the jetty anyway, why should they have to pay him twice? Looking at her, I wondered how anyone could be so MEAN. I mean, REALLY? Taking my own fee from her (which I was obviously lucky to get!) I wished her a Merry Christmas, mentally adding a few choice cuss words to make myself feel better. I paid McCarthy the $20.00 myself, the passengers weren’t the only grinches on that cruise ship!
It seems as though bequia is joining the stress of the the big world, which we went there to escape from!
It has certainly changed a lot, but I can’t imagine calling any other place “home”.