My Cruise Journal
I started working for a ground handling agent at Changi International
Airport after completing my national service and not long later, I landed a
decent job with an airline company which I worked for 5 years. I was last with a travel company before I
landed my first job in the cruise industry and it was by default too. That year was 1991 where cruising to many
then was only meant for the rich and discerning travellers.
Then it was a friend who called me one day to ask me to join
him urgently but he didn’t elaborate much except saying it was a travel job
which was related to cruising. I was
excited about the prospect of working for a cruise vessel. When I dropped by his office, I was surprised
to see him so immaculately dressed up like a high flier executive. Yep, I was so used to seeing him in his tee
and Bermuda shorts but what a transformation he had turned up to be. Even the office personnel addressed him as
“Mr Lim” and after I joined his company, I had to follow the rest in addressing
him the same way too – much to my reluctance though. He was the executive director of the company
that chartered a cruise vessel for operation in Singapore and Jakarta. It was a quick chat and soon, I was given a
job by him. He wanted me to help
set up the travel arm for the company.
But before I could even sit down to map the travel plan, I was asked to
take a cruise on board their vessel to render any help. Gosh, I had never been on board a cruise
vessel in my life but it certainly sounded exciting for me as a greenhorn. The Singapore Cruise Centre at the then World
Trade Centre (the present HarbourFront) was not fully operational yet and
therefore, the vessel had to berth at Keppel Container Port. My first association with any cruise vessel
was called “Orient Sun”, an ageing vessel which was the company’s first
chartered vessel that plied between Singapore and Jakarta.
I was waiting at the container port for the ship to come
alongside where I got to see all the actions for the first time in my life. Everyone seemed busy with their own chores except
for me. Someone briefly introduced me to
some of the key people on board and thereafter, I was left alone. I really had no inkling what was I supposed
to do while on board as there was no specific instruction given by my new boss. He just threw me in the deep sea. Like any “true warrior”, I just went along and
did what was deemed fit to do. I went to
the purser office and started to help them in the manifestation work; helped to
man the reception even duplicating keys for passengers; helped at the
restaurant when it was busy and even went to the supermarket to make urgent purchases
for ship when the ship supplier did not turn up with fresh supplies. It was the chef who frantically ran up to me to
ask for help in getting urgent supplies.
I didn’t know who to approach but somehow I managed to get a passenger
van driver to send me to the nearest supermarket to clean up the shelves. Come to think of it, it was quite comical
then. I came from an established
European airline company where everything was so structured and orderly. Over here, it was like everyone to themselves
and one had to learn to find one’s own way to get things done. It was really a culture shock for me but a
great learning curve I must say. There is
no textbook to follow.
While waiting at the wharf-side for the vessel to come
alongside at the container port for the first time in my life, it was surreal to
see a fleet of sleek white Mercedes Benz lining up nicely in one row. One would have thought the cars were meant
for export out but no, these cars were on standby to pick up the VVIPs on
board. When the VVIPs finally strolled
down the gangway in high fashion accompanied by gleeful customer service staff
(generous tips were expected from these high rollers) who then whiskered them
to the waiting vehicles. It was like a
HK triad movie to me. I then realised ours was a ‘high octane’ gaming vessel that just got back from an
overnight high sea cruise packed with high rollers from Indonesia, HK, Taiwan,
Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Stakes
were high which ran into millions of dollars.
This charted my inroad to the booming local cruising industry.
In the beginning of the 90s, local cruising landscape
started to transform rapidly. Our
company quickly chartered another passenger vessel, “Royal Pacific”. She was a newly refurbished vessel, converted
from a car ferry. During that period,
she was considered one of the better passenger vessels that plied in our region
waters. I didn’t stay very long with the
company and I later joined the ship owner of “Royal Pacific” as its operations
manager when the charterer (my former company) decided to off-hire the vessel. The ship owner company was known as Starlite
Cruises took back the vessel. In our new
business plan, we had planned to run a leisure cruise voyage with lesser emphasis
on gaming. Our ambitious routes had
included Port Klang, Penang and Phuket. We
roped in experienced personnel from our Miami-based company to help us. However, fate did deal us a cruel blow when
our vessel, “Royal Pacific” sank in the Straits of Malacca during our maiden
voyage. She collided with a fishing
trawler in the Straits of Malacca. I am
one of the survivors of the sunken vessel and the rest is history. Fortunately, fatality rate was low though we
were ill-prepared for such a crisis. That
year was August 1992 when the ship sank and the local cruise industry did take
a tumble but quickly recovered. Not many
people can still remember about the sinking vessel now which was then a major shipwreck
incident.
Few months later, our ship owner re-positioned another of
its Miami based vessels, “Regent Spirit” to Singapore. We had renamed our company to Regency Cruises. Finally, I left the company to join another upstart
local based cruise company called Renaissance Cruises. That year was 1994. My new company chartered two Italian built
vessels, “Renaissance I” and “Renaissance II” which they later bought over from
the owner. It was another high sea
cruise where gaming operation is the key to survival. I was managing these two vessels for the
company. Personally, I like “Renaissance
I” as it was this vessel that went through turbulent period with me. The vessel was like a second home to me and during
my stay on board, I was always well taken care by the crew too. It was not a big vessel and we were quite
closely knitted. I was practically left
to fend on my own when “Renaissance I” was re-positioned in Kota Kinbabalu. I followed the ship to Kota Kinabalu and
helped in the setting up of operation. The
vessel faced harassment of sorts from the authorities and even threats from gangsters. One day the vessel was arrested while on high
sea cruise in South China Sea. We were
actually sabotaged by a local influential figure who initiated the police to arrest
the ship. We were hauled back to port
and we had to stop operation temporary. We
then fought a bitter court battle with the authority for a good one year and
fortunately, we won the case - much thanks to our Sabah legal counsel who is now my good friend too.
In 1995, I joined another locally based vessel, “Leisure
World” as its owner’s representative and subsequently, went on to manage the
company’s travel division on shore. This
was to be my longest stint. I stayed
more than a decade with the company before venturing out to set up my own
travel and aviation companies in year 2001.
I re-joined the company in 2005 when my own businesses went topsy turvy during
the SARS outbreak. My time with Leisure
World and the company was largely peaceful.
I finally left the organisation in 2012 to pursue my other passion in
life.
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