Tag: Men in Uniform

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Mission Accomplished: Refueling Fighter Jets in Mid-air with the US Air Force

August 15, 2012 at 4:24 PM | by | Comments (0)

"This is my day off!"

Not words you want to hear from a man in a flightsuit, controlling a plane on which you're flying. That is, unless it's Wayne Hanna, who spends his work days in American Airlines aircraft maintenance and his free days as a KC-10 Extender Flight Engineer with the U.S. Air Force Reserve.

Hanna would be the reason why yesterday thousands of passengers on AA flights out of New York-JFK Airport witnessed an Air Force KC-10 Extender plane taxiing around and parking at a gate. His seemingly crazy idea to bring together his two passions to draw attention to the upcoming NYC Air Force Week was given the green light. So we joined him onboard the aircraft for an up-close demonstration of what to expect during the event.

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You'll Be Having the Ginger Cosmo, So Says the Cocktails Manager on the 'Queen Victoria'

July 22, 2011 at 4:55 PM | by | Comments (0)

When you think about the people who make a cruise ship run, who comes to mind? The captain...maybe the head chef and cruise director, right? Well, with about 1,000 crew onboard Cunard's Queen Victoria, there's so many others in the shadows, all responsible for making your vacation an awesome one and we'd like to introduce you to them.

Over the last two weeks, we've given exclusive peeks into the (somewhat) secret lives of a ship's officer, a "gentleman dance host," the ship's acupuncturist, the actual doctor and the foodie Saucier. For this final installment, we're all about getting our drink on. Cheers.

Cruises are the ultimate all-inclusive vacation...or are they? What you will have to pay for is all that boozing—wine with dinner, gin and tonics on deck and champagne poolside—so there's a man onboard whose job it is to make the cocktail menu as tempting as possible. For the Queen Victoria, this man is James, the ship's Public Rooms Services Manager.

He may be on a boat right now, but James is head over heels for hotels, using his experience in opening both Manchester's Velvet Hotel and Malmaison to evolve the Queen Victoria's bars and lounges into singular experiences for her thousands of guests. He's been at sea now straight since 2004, also stepping onto the old Caronia, the Queen Mary 2 and even some of the smaller Seabourn ships. Thus, you can bet he knows what to drink if you're feeling the motion of the ocean a bit much: the Ginger Cosmo.

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Even the Saucier on the 'Queen Victoria' is a Gordon Ramsay-Trained Gourmand

July 20, 2011 at 3:10 PM | by | Comments (0)

When you think about the people who make a cruise ship run, who comes to mind? The captain...maybe the head chef and cruise director, right? Well, with about 1,000 crew onboard Cunard's Queen Victoria, there's so many others in the shadows, all responsible for making your vacation an awesome one. And over these two weeks, we'd like to introduce you to them.

Last week we gave you exclusive peeks into the (somewhat) secret lives of a ship's officer, a "gentleman dance host," the ship's acupuncturist and its actual doctor. Now we're headed into the kitchens with Roberto, the Queen Victoria's Chef de Partie in charge of sauces.

He's just back from a month-long vacation to Bali, where he slept in an overwater bungalow and dined on fresh meals prepared in the rice fields. He's Roberto, and believe it or not, he's the chef in charge of making all the sauces for meals onboard the Queen Victoria, in the Brittania restaurant.

Oh, but it gets better. Roberto is not only a dashing English man of Italian and South African heritage who cuts a fine figure in his tall chef's hat; he's also a Gordon Ramsay-trained chef, with a CV that includes Ramsay's restaurant at Claridge's in London. And like many Londoners, Roberto feels a connection with New York, specifically with Thomas Keller's Michelin four-starred restaurant Per Se, where he comes to dine (and tour the kitchen) almost every time the QV docks in NYC.

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Scalpels and Seasickness: A Cruise Ship's Doctor Deals With It All

July 18, 2011 at 1:30 PM | by | Comment (1)

When you think about the people who make a cruise ship run, who comes to mind? The captain...maybe the head chef and cruise director, right? Well, with about 1,000 crew onboard Cunard's Queen Victoria, there's so many others in the shadows, all responsible for making your vacation an awesome one. And over the next two weeks, we'd like to introduce you to them.

Last week we gave you exclusive peeks into the (somewhat) secret lives of a ship's officer, a "gentleman dance host," and the ships' acupuncturist. Now it's time to get technical with Dr. Shaun, a Medical Officer onboard the Queen Victoria.

Not feeling so well on your cruise? No problem—since down below the theatre, below the bars and below even the cheapest cabins sits the Queen Victoria's full Medical Center, with its team of doctors and nurses in officer's whites ready to treat everything from your minor case of mal de mer up to serious, surgical matters.

One of the smart team is Dr. Shaun, a South African who has taken his medical training and interest in sports medicine to the high seas. He treats both passengers and crew, a easy feat considering how well-equipped the Medical Center is with two clinics, private recovery rooms (with portholes!) and heavy gear like portable X-ray machines and yes—Defibrillators.

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Being an Acupuncturist on a Cruise Ship is So Much More Than Sticking Pins in People

July 15, 2011 at 2:43 PM | by | Comment (1)

When you think about the people who make a cruise ship run, who comes to mind? The captain...maybe the head chef and cruise director, right? Well, with about 1,000 crew onboard Cunard's Queen Victoria, there's so many others in the shadows, all responsible for making your vacation an awesome one. And over the next two weeks, we'd like to introduce you to them.

Now that you're fully acquainted with a ship's officer and a pro dancer, it's time to indulge a bit with Justin Lane, Doctor of Chinese Medicine and the Queen Victoria's resident Acupuncturist.

Originally from San Francisco, Justin’s been fully qualified to stick needles in people for just two years, but he’s been into acupuncture for far longer than that. Growing up, he suffered from asthma and allergies; where Western medicine failed to help, acupuncture did the job. “Chinese medicine made a profound difference to my life,” he says. So when his childhood dream of becoming an airline pilot fell through, he decided to help others the way he’d been helped. After his undergrad degree (Psychology in San Fran, no less) he headed down to the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine at San Diego for four years of training.

As Cunard is a British ship, the majority of passengers are English, which doesn’t always bode well for Justin, since he reckons that not only are Americans more open to trying new therapies and into spa-ing in general, but also that, because of the (glorious) NHS, the Brits aren’t used to paying for healthcare.

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From Competitive Ballroom to Cruise Ships: The Life of a Cunard Gentleman Dance Host

July 13, 2011 at 10:30 AM | by | Comments (5)

When you think about the people who make a cruise ship run, who comes to mind? The captain...maybe the head chef and cruise director, right? Well, with about 1,000 crew onboard Cunard's Queen Victoria, there's so many others in the shadows, all responsible for making your vacation an awesome one. And over the next two weeks, we'd like to introduce you to them.

On Monday we met Richard, a real Anchorman. Today, meet Jeff, Gentleman Dance Host on the Queen Victoria.

"I'm not a gigolo...a 'giga-dancer,'" Jeff asserts. "I'm a competitive ballroom dancer doing this for fun."

We're chatting while seated in the ship's Veuve Clicquot Champagne Bar and he's already donned his crisp white dinner jacket in preparation for the cruise's first formal night and the waltzing to come later. Jeff is a college professor on sabbatical, and a veteran of some 60 cruises, an impressive number even for the most cruise-happy blue haired ladies. Alas he isn't kicking back to gorge at the buffets or shop for duty-free liquor; he's here to dance as one member of Cunard's revolving corps of male dance partners for solo cruising women.

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This is the Man Who Drops the 12-Ton Anchors from Cunard's 'Queen Victoria'

July 11, 2011 at 11:22 AM | by | Comments (2)

When you think about the people who make a cruise ship run, who comes to mind? The captain...maybe the head chef and cruise director, right? Well, with about 1,000 crew onboard Cunard's Queen Victoria, there's so many others in the shadows, all responsible for making your vacation an awesome one. And over the next two weeks, we'd like to introduce you to them.

Today, meet Richard, Third Officer on the Queen Victoria's bridge.

You're looking at a future Cunard ship captain here. Richard, from the Isle of Wight, may be in charge of dropping anchor and inspecting the lifeboats, but he's got his eye on the helm. Believe it or not, this man in officer's whites is only 21 years old.

"I've got at least twenty more years [before captain]," he admits, but Richard's been at sea since 16, working his way up from cargo ships to the Seven Seas Mariner and finally to right here, where we're standing with an envious view overlooking the Norwegian port of Bergen.

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