tutto bene

ship life is ship life. it's like an alternate reality where things that would normally never take place on land are commonplace. it's adjusting to a different sleeping schedule, new food, new chain of command, and a whole set of "ship rules" that never existed on land.  for the sommelier, it means knowing when to approach the table with the wine list and when to just happy grab the bottle of cheap complimentary wine and make sure the glass never gets empty.  and cleaning. and cleaning. and inventory. and cleaning. before accepting any job on a cruise line, one should be aware of a little thing called "usph cleaning". certain ports require ships to undergo a public health inspection upon docking. what this means for the crew is an extra two hours of sanitizing and scrubbing at the end of the evening. so it's late, you've been running for eleven hours, you think that you are heading back to your blissfully cool cabin to submit to slumber when you hear someone say that it's usph cleaning tonight. damn.

in the meantime we're stopping in some of the most amazing ports- Istanbul, Santorini, Venice, and Dubrovnik.  the photo above is from a glorious morning off in Corfu, Greece . the bottle of retsina cost 1.5 euro and only vaguely tasted of floor cleaner. one bag of fresh cherries, a beach, and a dip the refreshing Ionian Sea. now this makes the long hours and fussy management worth it. the ship is always there in the distance, reminding us of our duty, but for just a few hours on land we can pretend like we are carefree tourists on vacation.

this week, as we sail from venice to montecarlo, stopping in italian, sicilian, and corsican ports along the way, the ship is nearly full, with almost 540 passengers. we sommeliers are running for wine every night. a food and wine group comprised of americans, mostly texans, keeps us busy as bottles of joseph phelps insignia, cardinal, domaine drouhin, and shafer's hillside select fly out of the cellar. plus we have a winemaker and guest chef on board to keep things interesting. 

as the job becomes easier every day, the expectations become higher. i am still adjusting to a somewhat militaristic chain of command and trying not to be too much of the outspoken american girl that seems to put some people so much on edge. i still struggle every day to not be interrupted, shot down, ignored, talked down to or sabotaged and it does become exhausting after awhile. i must work twice as hard and show twice as much dedication as my male counterparts to be taken seriously. certain standards for equality that we can expect in the states are non-existent in this country that we call ship life. this is perhaps my biggest challenge in this adventure. i see my female paisanos going through the same thing in their departments and i know this experience is only going to make us stronger and more competitive on land. but in the moment sometimes i just want to smash things. :)

headed to sorrento tomorrow to re-sample the limoncello and buy some cheap laundry detergent- it's good to know where you can take care of boring domestic stuff- then on to bonifacio, corsica, and finally monte carlo, home of the best-dressed dogs on earth. look forward to posts on local wines and port highlights. and remember to only drink the good stuff.. . life is too short for bad wine. 

in the meantime, i'll leave you with this... one of the most expensive bottles ever out of Australia, presented by - no big surprise- the legendary Penfolds. the bottle of 2004 Kalimna Block 42 Cabernet is encased in a hand-blown glass ampoule, suspended within a wooden cabinet. you can buy it for $168,000 but if you want to drink it, Penfolds has to fly a senior winemaker out to your home to open that device. now that's class. i suggested we get one for the ship and my head sommelier looked at me like i was crazy. 

full story here. enjoy!