My husband and I just arrived from a two-week cruise on board the Crystal. Needless to say it was most enjoyable. The Crystal Serenity is the fairly new state-of-the-art cruise ship, built by Crystal about 7 years ago. It took two years to build. It can hold up to about 1080 passengers, with a crew of 650. This particular cruise was a quick sell-out with 980 passengers, being a popular Mediterranean cruise mixed with culinary wonders. Celebrated San Francisco chef Michael Mina was on board to cook fabulous meals for the passengers and gave several cooking demonstrations. Crystal also happens to have two other fabulous restaurants onboard -- Silk Road, whose chef is the one and only Nobu, and Prego, hailed by a famed food critic when he wrote that "the best Italian food I ever ate was on board the Serenity's Prego Restaurant".
The Crystal Serenity coming into Istanbul where we boarded
What made it extra special for my husband and I was the fact that more than half the crew was Filipino. 350 of the 600 crew members came from the Philippines. Everywhere we went, there was always a smiling Filipino face to help and assist. The foreigners simply adored this pampering, and they never ceased to comment about how the Filipino staff immediately jumped to their needs and even remembered their names.
Our two-week cruise gave us a chance to know the crew on board as we often saw and spoke to them. Even the band was Filipino and they would often sing Anak for my husband, as they knew he enjoyed this song (and so did a lot of the foreigners). The three "techies" in the computer room were also Filipino. Majority of the Filipino crew are below deck, though, either cleaning, scrubbing decks, washing dishes, doing the laundry. The rest are up on the 12th deck where the buffet, sandwich and scooping stations are. It is also where the pool is located. A sprinkling of stewardesses (chambermaids) are from the Philippines, but we noticed that there were very few Filipino women in the crew. I only met three.
The Filipino Band
Wherever we go in the world, my husband and I are always interested in speaking to fellow countrymen and inquire about their life, their plight, their problems. And we did the same on this cruise. We asked about their families. We told them the latest gossip. When they would spot us lounging by the pool or lunching on the deck, a group of them would gather around to chat. "We get so excited whenever a Filipino guest comes on the ship," one of them said. They told us us that upon hiring, they sign a contract that 80% of their salary is retained in thePhilippines. So they do not receive the full amount, unlike the rest of the foreign crew. Who knows but this could be a requirement by the Bureau of Labor or Commerce (?) so as to ensure that the dollar inflows into the country are steady. Also, salary schedule in a cruise ship is different. The head waiters and captain waiters, as well as room stewardesses get lower pay, since all guests are required to pay them a "tip" of at least $5 per person per day. The waiters on the 12th deck (the Filipinos) do not receive a tip, as they are on a regular salary. Which is what the hiring company in the Philippines prefers, so that they benefit more from the dollar exchange, since the salary is a set amount.
The 12th Deck is called Lido Deck. Lunch being served by the Filipino waiters.
Work on board the cruise ship for these Filipinos is hard, as they are constantly scheduled on jobs all over the ship. Catering to almost a thousand guests, preparing super gourmet meals nightly, plus having food ready round the clock, not to mention the entertainment, the gym, the spa, the computer room, the laundry, the excursions, just so many things, all served in first class style -- is quite a feat. The Filipinos handle just about most of this...the grunt work, that is. They consider themselves fortunate to be part of the Crystal family as Crystal treats them very well. As we departed, Manny, the waiter up at the 12th deck, told us that after the final night's dinner, they hauled the thousands of suitcases of the guests and brought them down to the baggage claim area at 2 AM. And after all the guests departed from our cruise at 10 am, they were turning around, cleaning and preparing the ship for another thousand passengers that were boarding THAT NIGHT! Phew!
These 350 hardworking Filipinos that made our trip so enjoyable are part of the 10 million Filipinos that work overseas to make life better for their families back home. They contribute to the $17 billion that comes in annually to the Philippines which makes up close to 11% of our country's GDP. They are our unsung heroes, because the hard work and sacrifice that they selflessly do for their families is what keeps our struggling country afloat.
