Early Days

Monday, April 29: Impressions from my first day of training at Allen Marine – A sea of fresh-off-the-plane young seasonal workers milling about awkwardly as old hands of Allen Marine hugged one another in happy reunion. People from all over the lower-48 – people looking around themselves in awe saying repeatedly, “It’s so beautiful here” – are tasked with selling the ‘Alaska Experience,’ which Allen Marine claims is their product, which is interesting to me – the Alaska Experience as a product, one that can be pushed and sold within a 3-hr cruise.

As a new hand to Allen Marine, yet a veteran (in comparison to my surrounding company) to Alaska, I was uncomfortably grouped with all the Alaska newbies, people from Alabama, Florida, New Mexico, North Carolina, California, and so many other states that are announced on their license plates or on their faces. There was this overwhelming air of summer camp or freshman orientation hanging stagnantly around, a scene I really didn't want anything to do with.

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The first cruise ship, the Carnival Miracle, arrived in Juneau on Thursday, May 2 to grey and drizzly weather.

This was the very first tour of the 2013 season for Allen Marine Juneau. The St. Phillip left the Auke Bay dock at 8:30 am.

I was on the second tour of the season aboard the St. Aqualina but came dressed in plain clothes. My job was to blend in with the other tourists as I shadowed Lindsay, an experienced Naturalist with Allen Marine for five seasons.

Inside the St. Aqualina.

The stellar sea lions at Benjamin Island were a crowd pleaser with the tourists. These tourists had already viewed orcas and a humpback but, unlike the ever-moving whales, the sea lions didn't immediately disappear into the water. They could be viewed lounging about and playing with each other, which the tourists could easily capture on their cameras.

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My first season working for Allen Marine has involved trainings in various areas, including TAPS (Training for Alcohol Professionals), First Aid/CPR, retail, customer service, employee safety, passenger management, ADA (Americans with Disabilities Associations training), and Fire Training at the Hagevig Center.

We all got to practice using various fire extinguishers.



Here is Miguel putting out a fire. Miguel is on my crew as a passenger service person. I first encountered Miguel through my last job at the Capitol (his family testified against the oil tax bill) and later at the Folk Fest where he sang and played the guitar with more talent than others. Since he lives on Douglas, I've been carpooling with him and despite the fact that I'm a dozen years older than him, I think he's a great person and we've become fast friends.

The final piece of training takes place this Friday at the University of Alaska Southeast – a Marine Naturalist Symposium.