For those of you who have read Cruise Confidential

[Mrsg324]

I need to add this book to my list & pick it up this week.

[cruiselover 43]

so Brian - did you get the girl? I see your married now ????

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=20371746&highlight=#post20371746

[Kurbanfan]

lol me too it was horrible

 

I agree!

[Perfect Stranger]

No, I haven't read the book. Why shouldn't you make special requests? Because it's too much work for the staff? Or because they'll "tamper" with your food?

[sandravb79]

I haven't read the book, not even sure I can get it over here.

Almost every night I order two desserts. Until I read this thread, I didn't realise I did something bad. I am so not going to change my bad behaviour though :)

[Whimsy]

I just finished the book. It was an entertaining read. I enjoyed learning a bit about the politics on board. I have never considered myself as being very demanding so there really isn't anything I would change when I cruise. I never understood why I couldn't just have a piece of beef wellington on the side but now I understand. I can see that the crew always works hard and I have always appreciated their efforts. If they truly do the amount of drinking on as little sleep as the author claims it's a wonder they aren't all dropping left and right. I do think there "might" be a bit of embellishment to make the book more interesting.

[FantasyLineAddict]

No, I haven't read the book. Why shouldn't you make special requests? Because it's too much work for the staff? Or because they'll "tamper" with your food?

 

Because they are running back and forth from the kitchen and on some ships, the kitchen is on a different level and there's a hierarchy to who gets things first, etc.

 

It just makes things easier if you order your starter (or two) and an entree and then your desert. If you make requests like no vegetables or this with that on the same plate, it is difficult for the staff but they aren't going to say no to you.

 

Nobody tampers with the food.

[southbayer]

Not to hijack this thread with a new question, but an observation really.......................

 

But he did say in his book that when people who don't show up in the main dining room for dinner, that's money they don't make...

 

But when our tips are paid, shouldn't they get paid no matter if we show up or not ?? Or maybe I read it wrong ??

[FantasyLineAddict]

Not to hijack this thread with a new question, but an observation really.......................

 

But he did say in his book that when people who don't show up in the main dining room for dinner, that's money they don't make...

 

But when our tips are paid, shouldn't they get paid no matter if we show up or not ?? Or maybe I read it wrong ??

 

I wondered about that too and hopefully he will answer. My guess is that they keep track of who goes to dinner and possibly adjust the auto tips between the dining areas accordingly. I thought about this while doing anytime dining, we were checked in each night so they know who shows up and who doesn't and in scheduled dining, they would just count empty seats.

 

Might add another dimension to the tip argument threads.

[Brian David Bruns]

Not to hijack this thread with a new question, but an observation really.......................

 

But he did say in his book that when people who don't show up in the main dining room for dinner, that's money they don't make...

 

But when our tips are paid, shouldn't they get paid no matter if we show up or not ?? Or maybe I read it wrong ??

Empty seats in the dining room do not necessarily equate no money for the waiters. Pre-paid tips are the waiters' only salary, and unfortunately many guests who skip the dinner do not feel obligated to tip their waiters. But these workers do more than the dinners: they make the breakfasts and lunches and midnight buffets happen, not to mention room service. They are assigned wherever and whenever they are needed, almost non-stop. Auto tips are a godsend to the crew. As is, I might add, skipping a dinner every now and then so they can ease back a bit!

[JimCo]

Empty seats in the dining room do not necessarily equate no money for the waiters. Pre-paid tips are the waiters' only salary, and unfortunately many guests who skip the dinner do not feel obligated to tip their waiters. But these workers do more than the dinners: they make the breakfasts and lunches and midnight buffets happen, not to mention room service. They are assigned wherever and whenever they are needed, almost non-stop. Auto tips are a godsend to the crew. As is, I might add, skipping a dinner every now and then so they can ease back a bit!

So if we decide to eat at the supper club one night but keep the pre-paid tips untouched, are we doing our regular dining room server a favor or not? Or do they look at it as lost revenue because we always order drinks/wine with dinner and tip more for those things, but now we took our business to the supper club and will be tipping for drinks to another server?

I'm confused.

 

I'm also concerned because I waited tables and bartended for years and do not want to shaft the bar/wait staff because of my ignorance of how the cruise business works.

[VOLLEYBALLDUDE2000]

I read the book...do they really drink that much and still function for 15 hours a day job?! It seems a little bit stretch.

 

Try it .... LOL

[Brian David Bruns]

I just finished the book. It was an entertaining read. I enjoyed learning a bit about the politics on board. I have never considered myself as being very demanding so there really isn't anything I would change when I cruise. I never understood why I couldn't just have a piece of beef wellington on the side but now I understand. I can see that the crew always works hard and I have always appreciated their efforts. If they truly do the amount of drinking on as little sleep as the author claims it's a wonder they aren't all dropping left and right. I do think there "might" be a bit of embellishment to make the book more interesting.

Actually, I did not embellish at all and had to pare it down significantly lest I offend too many. It's an understandable concern, of course, but I stand behind every statement in my book because I wanted to honor the nameless, hard-working crew. I took copious notes and only truncated the timeline near the end to keep it under 400 pages.

 

Remember, college kids can party all night and study all day. We were all there once, and so the crew at large is now. Besides, there's nothing else to do but drink, smoke, play video games, or carouse and on vacation you can sleep for two months straight.

[Kurbanfan]

So if we decide to eat at the supper club one night but keep the pre-paid tips untouched, are we doing our regular dining room server a favor or not? Or do they look at it as lost revenue because we always order drinks/wine with dinner and tip more for those things, but now we took our business to the supper club and will be tipping for drinks to another server?

I'm confused.

 

I'm also concerned because I waited tables and bartended for years and do not want to shaft the bar/wait staff because of my ignorance of how the cruise business works.

 

We have always had a bar waiter take our drink orders at dinner.......not the dining room waiters.......

[exitoffnine]

lol me too it was horrible

 

I ordered it off Amazon as the first download to the new Kindles I got my wife and I. Given we like to cruise, I thought it would be insightful. It was for a few chapters....then he was admired again....and again.....and he had all the odds stacked against him.....again...and again....and then the girls admired him again....

 

I kept going a) since I was on vacation and b) since I hoped there would truly be something interesting around the corner. I can only recommend it if you're truly bored and it's free. Read like an old (bad) episode of As the World (ship) Turns (Sails).

 

Sorry to the Mr Burns as I know he posts here - I just like to tell it like it is and it's not always enjoyable on CC when Kudos are accepted and honest criticism is not.

[Ships R Great]

Actually, I did not embellish at all and had to pare it down significantly lest I offend too many. It's an understandable concern, of course, but I stand behind every statement in my book because I wanted to honor the nameless, hard-working crew. I took copious notes and only truncated the timeline near the end to keep it under 400 pages.

 

Remember, college kids can party all night and study all day. We were all there once, and so the crew at large is now. Besides, there's nothing else to do but drink, smoke, play video games, or carouse and on vacation you can sleep for two months straight.

 

Can you tell me which ships you have worked on, or at least which cruise lines? Wonder if our paths have crossed.

[Motley]

Actually, I did not embellish at all and had to pare it down significantly lest I offend too many. It's an understandable concern, of course, but I stand behind every statement in my book because I wanted to honor the nameless, hard-working crew. I took copious notes and only truncated the timeline near the end to keep it under 400 pages.

 

Remember, college kids can party all night and study all day. We were all there once, and so the crew at large is now. Besides, there's nothing else to do but drink, smoke, play video games, or carouse and on vacation you can sleep for two months straight.

 

So what happened with Bianca? What kind of interesting things did you leave out?

 

My wife was working on the Carnival Pride when I met her. I told her she needed to read the book and she is going to start soon. I remembered hearing my wife saying some of those Carnival slang words when we first met like basura and mumagyu (I know I spelled it wrong). What memories that brought back. :) I think my wife is going to love your book. I have a feeling it will bring back some very fond memories for her. She often talks about how much fun she had on the boat.

[uppitycats]

I haven't read the book, so these are just general observations. My husband and I are pretty low maintenance. I don't think we've ever ordered anything that wasn't already on the menu, just as it was printed there (haven't tried to switch side dishes, or veggies, or anything). We also don't order more than one of anything in a category...and rarely do we get as far as ordering dessert.

 

But it doesn't take a book to observe how hard the staff work -- we see the same folks early in the morning working at the buffet that are there again at night, serving dinners. We see folks setting up tables and then hurrying off to the specialty restaurants where they're serving that night. And so on. And all of you who do "traditional dining" because you like to learn about your servers -- surely you've had conversations with them where they've mentioned their long hours, leaving family at home far away, for months at a time, etc? We've only done traditional dining a couple of times, and flexible dining the other times we've cruised, and still found out all this sort of thing.

 

So we try hard to continue to be low maintenance, to continue to be respectful, courteous, not ask more than what should be reasonably expected (understanding that one person's "reasonable" is another person's "excessive demands"), and expect that kind of treatment in return. And generally get it.

[bahama-momma]

I want to add that I've read this book - and, wow! what an eye opener to so many areas that I'd not thought of, but I guess that was because I don't abuse those areas. I've always appreciated the service I've received and will definitely make sure I never over-look any one who takes care of me while on a cruise.

 

I want to commend Mr. Bruns and thank him for a great book . I'd love to see his next work as a follow-up to Cruise Confidential - what happened with Bianca, what was the next job etc, etc.

[5-to-cruise]

A few things.

 

Mr. Bruns mentioned in another thread that he DID keep notes as a way to unwind at the end of the 'day'.

 

I think ordering 2 appetizers or desserts is ok as long as you are doing it up front when you place your orders. Its asking for things that are mixed up that causes the problem. I THINK the waiters are not going back and placing orders like you see in a restaurant but they order '3 beefs, 2 chickens and a fish!' and the cooks hand them pre-plated food. Or the pre-plated food is lined up between the cooks and the waiters and the staff grabs what they need and the cooks keep the lines full. So ordering '4 plates of just honey bbq shrimp, no veggies' means the waiter has to grab all 4 full plates and do something with the veggies and combine them. (and god, what a story that was. I hate to think there are people like that out there).

 

So coming in late means you are trying to get appetizers while the 'line' is full of main courses. That would be bad.

 

 

The book: both my wife and I read it and enjoyed it, thanks. I can believe that either you or an editor cut a lot out. It felt kind of... choppy to me. I would have been interested to hear more about the training and whatnot that you went though.

 

I honestly don't know how you dealt with that manager guy near the end of the book. The temptation to do physical harm would have been overwhelming.

 

I was VERY happy to read that it seemed to work out in the end and we are both looking forward to reading the next book. Don't cut out so much. We need more book, not less. :)

 

Thanks,

 

rv

[Brian David Bruns]

I ordered it off Amazon as the first download to the new Kindles I got my wife and I. Given we like to cruise, I thought it would be insightful. It was for a few chapters....then he was admired again....and again.....and he had all the odds stacked against him.....again...and again....and then the girls admired him again....

 

I kept going a) since I was on vacation and b) since I hoped there would truly be something interesting around the corner. I can only recommend it if you're truly bored and it's free. Read like an old (bad) episode of As the World (ship) Turns (Sails).

 

Sorry to the Mr Burns as I know he posts here - I just like to tell it like it is and it's not always enjoyable on CC when Kudos are accepted and honest criticism is not.

No apologies are necessary, my friend. After all, how can one improve without honest critique? I'm sorry it read so self-glorifying to you and my self deprecation was not enough to overcome it.

[shipty2]

I loved Cruise Confidential and just want to read more more more!!!

[gypsygirl]

Ithought the book was a big waste of money. Seems like all the servers did was get drunk and try to make out with the girls. I cannot believe that they could be so drunk and then wait on their tables right away. Surely the guests would notice that - or smell the booze. Sorry, just my opinion.

[Grits53]

Hey Brian! We were on the Conquest last week, where we took the "Behind The Fun" ship tour. 16 of us were taken to several key areas of the ship, including the galley and even the crew bar and private crew deck. We walked up and down those "famous" stairs to and from the crew's quarters. Having read Cruise Confidential, it meant so much more to us to visit the areas you had talked about in the book. When we went up the escalator from galley to dining room, my DH and I just laughed. All we could think of was the image of shrimps rolling at the top of the escalator. LOL!! (although I'm sure that part wasn't funny for you at the time!) BTW, that escalator moves extremely FAST! How in the world did you keep from falling as you stepped off it at the top while carrying a big, heavy tray of food?? :eek:

Thanks again for such an enlightening book. Can't wait for the sequel!

[Sundsgn]

I finished the book about a month ago myself. I went to check it out of our library and they didn't have it, so they actually ordered it to stock it! I was the very first reader.

 

I did enjoy it! I will probably still make occasional special requests, but I've never been too outrageous. I have been guilty of walking out of the DR with my wine glass a couple times.

 

While I have respect for the amount of hard work the staff does, the lack of moral code bothered me. I felt bad for the spouses and significant others of the employees who were cheated on and stuff. So, it kind of evens out for me. But, you can't expect one country's belief system to be the same in another, I guess.

 

One thing I've always wondered is if they have 3 AM showings of "extra-curricular" activities from the ships surveillance cameras ;)