Hey it's me Janel!: The View From My Office Window

In all the excitement of my adventures off the train I haven't talked a lot about my work up here - and boy do I work hard too! I work for Royal Celebrity Tours part of the Royal Carribean family and we are the land portion of a two part cruise, so you either fly in and start inland and head to the ship or you start on the ship in Vancouver, BC and then travel through the interior of Alaska (Note - if you ever plan this trip I reccommend starting on land first, it's a long vacation and there is a lot to see that way you can rest and relax once your on board)!

My view for most of the day giving commentarty to the guests!

(I do actually have a head set so I can talk even if I'm eating downstairs)

So the company has many jobs the three main ones I deal with are (1) motorcoach drivers - they stay with their group the entire time, so nice because no luggage gets lost and they take such good care of you (2) Tour Directors - also with their group the entire time giving some commentary and answering questions as they travel, setting up excursions for their guests, making sure hotel accomadations run smoothly, and reccommend places to eat etc. and finally (3) Rail Crew - this is us we get to "host" guests for 1 and sometimes up to 3 legs of the land portion. It's a nice break from traveling by motorcoach and it's so beautiful with the windows even if it takes longer! We have 4 legs total from Seward up to Fairbanks = 470 miles, we only run to Seward and back however on Fridays then the other days we run N-S between Anchorage and Fairbanks so a 12 hour day with guests (3 groups for 3 meals = 4 hours each) and then a 14 hour day for us with prep work and clean up!

The bar area - it gets a little crowded at times!

Now on the train we have 4 positions (1) Host Guide - this is ME! I give commentary as we travel, help to seat people downstairs and help bus tables to get people down quickly (we have up to 80 people and only 36 seats downstairs), try to spot wildlife we pass - let them know as we approach any nests, answer questions, clean bathrooms, help guests use our elevator, take guests pictures, adjust the heating and air conditioning, sell items from the gift shop, and sometimes help deliver drinks. Basically I do anything to ensure that our guests have a good time. Their Tour Directors do come on board but we try to let them relax a bit while we host them as well. (2) Bartender - there is only one so 80 guests and they make all the specialty drinks, espresso's, smoothies, etc. It is crazy busy right at the start so I try to help when I can and we just ask people to be patient as we work as fast as "trainly" possible - oh yeah we have to deliver drinks on a moving train, most of us can do 6-8 and so far NO major spills! (3) Server - we have two for our dining room downstairs and they have about 2 hours of a constant rush getting drinks, food, and checks only to turn a table over as fast as possible and do it again. Then clean up and rolling silverware and restock - like I said we work hard! (4) Cooks - we also have two on board so they prepare all our food - they do a lot of prep work to help them out and we only have about 6 items on each menu so that is very helpful but they are master's in the kitchen and they have to help run dishes at the same time. Really everyone helps anyone else when they can and I have a pretty amazing crew - not a lot of drama at all this summer!

Our tables downstairs with exceptional meals - some say better than the ship!

Some of our crew out on the vestibule when we didn't have guests!

Ok well this is long enough -that's the basics of my job and it keeps me really busy, luckily on the train we only work 4 days on and every other week an extra 5th day and then we get time off so I've been able to have a lot of fun. And really the best part is the view from my office window - it has been an exceptional summer and I really don't get tired of my job the view is different from the spring until all the snow melted and now into the middle of summer and we are even starting to see some color change in the trees so I'm so excited for fall! This last week too we had an exceptional sighting of Mt. McKinley from the rail so here are just a few pictures of what I get to enjoy all summer long! I am truly blessed!