As a society, Americans generally don't seem to accept sick days.
You might think that after the Covid pandemic, service workers—the people who check out our groceries and prepare our burritos, burgers, and chicken fingers—could receive federally mandated sick time.
A person with the flu working on the manufacturing line at an Arby's could make dozens of people sick, while someone with the same condition at a Chipotle could put hundreds at risk of getting sick.
Related: Royal Caribbean shares its strict new beverage policy
We all went through a period where we learned how quickly a virus can spread, but sick leave is still not common for many people working in those fields.
Yes, a company can allow workers to call in sick, but if they are not paid for missed hours, many do not have the option of not showing up.
Cruise lines don't want workers coming to work sick, but they also don't want to deal with staff shortages. If some waiters get sick, replacements can't be brought in from the coast. The remaining staff have to work harder, which could detract from the passenger experience.
When it comes to artists, there are often no backup options. On Royal Caribbean, if the pub's lead guitarist or Schooner Bar's pianist gets a respiratory infection and has to quarantine for a week, passengers lose that entertainment option for their cruise.
Royal Caribbean singer Krista Jocelyn in her popular YouTube series talked about her work on cruise ships and how she handled a recent illness.
Royal Caribbean artist falls ill on board
Transcription:
It's the first day of another cruise and, unfortunately, I'm a little sick. I don't feel terrible, but I can't do my job, which is singing. I'm sorry.
It's very nasal and every time I try to sing, it sounds bad.
So when you get sick on a ship, it's a bit of a complicated situation. You have to decide if you want to go to the doctor and potentially get approval, which I think a lot of people would prefer to do in most situations. But as a performer, I feel that way, and I know a lot of other people feel that way too, when you're outside of a show, that puts a lot of emphasis on everyone else that's also in the show.
And so you don't want to get fired, but at the same time, if you can't do your job and you're going to sound terrible, you obviously don't want to do it to yourself either. But it's always in the back of your mind. You say, oh, I don't want to, you know, disappoint anyone else, and I don't want to do any more work for others.
Sign up for the Come Cruise With Me newsletter to save money on your next (or first) cruise.
But at the end of the day, if you can't sing, you can't sing, you know? So I ended up going to the doctor and I just wanted to be put on vocal rest instead of being out of order, because when you're out of order, you can't do anything.
And I was like, you know, we have a meeting. I could go to the meeting, but I can't sing. And they said, oh, no, we're going to fire you. So count me out, which is a shame.
And then they said, call us tomorrow if you can sing, we'll hire you again. And if you can't, we'll unsubscribe you again. I can make noise, but to do a full show, I also have a bit of a cough, so I'd probably cough on stage anyway.
But today is Fort Lauderdale. It's our day of change. I've talked about this before.
This is always our day to go shopping. And I usually use WiFi and download things for the week, do the things I need for whatever on my computer. And so, since I was furloughed from work, I couldn't go out today, which is a shame.
But Robert got off. He is an angel and is uploading a YouTube video for me and buying all our groceries and anything else we need for the week. So I wanted to talk about books real quick.
I don't want to go into a full synopsis, you know, of all the books I read, but I'll just tell you the ones I read. “Eliza starts a rumor.” I really liked that one.
Want the latest cruise news and deals? Subscribe to the Come Cruise With Me newsletter.
The ending definitely broke my heart and the whole book was really good. So I definitely recommend it.
“Don't Believe It” by Charlie Donley. I read that one very quickly. It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time and the twist at the end felt really good.
And then I also read “Yellow Face,” which is very different from anything I've ever read. It's about a girl whose best friend, if you want to put it that way, dies. They are both writers and she steals one of their manuscripts and publishes it as her own. It was ok. In some ways it left me unsatisfied. I will say that. Yes. Yes. I'll say that.
And I'm currently reading “Finding Jane,” which I'm loving so far. And basically the premise of the book is about Jane Network, that in the '60s and '70s, when abortion was completely illegal in the United States, something was happening outside my door. I don't know what it is. People would go to the clinics and ask for Jane and that would be their secret way of asking if the clinic performed abortions.
And it's about the lives of three women who intersect and I haven't finished it yet, but it's very good. The way it is written. It's so good.
I definitely recommend this one. So you could read that I'm already 75% of the way there. So I'll probably finish it in the next few days because I'll probably read a lot.
I'll do some reading and get back to you a little later.
Sometimes you just need to rest
Okay, it's been many hours since I contacted you. I thought today would be something productive, but no, I literally lay in bed and slept most of the day.
I feel a little better. My sore throat is mostly gone and now it's like a stuffy nose, a headache. So I went back to the doctor and they signed me off for the rest of tonight, and then hopefully I'll be back tomorrow.
I'll be back to the doctor at 10am and hope to be okay for tomorrow's show. I want to do a couple things because if I'm on the show tomorrow, I need clean makeup brushes because I haven't washed them since Halloween when I was purple and green and white and everything. So I need to wash my makeup brushes.
So here's your cue to wash your makeup brushes if you haven't done so in a while. Also, if you haven't seen my Halloween vlog, check it out. It was a fun little party the cast threw for the crew.
I couldn't believe how many people didn't know who Beetlejuice was. Many people said: what are you? And I thought everyone knew who Beetlejuice was, especially since a new movie with Johnny Depp had just come out. And I haven't actually seen it yet, but there was that. And then the musical, which I haven't actually seen either, but I love the music.
I've seen clips and listen to music quite frequently. In fact, I'm going to take a shower. I think I could make a mask.
I just want to do everything I can and feel better. And then I'll lie in bed and maybe read or watch YouTube. I haven't decided yet.
So let's start with the makeup brushes. I have my tea, lemon and ginger. Oh, he doesn't recognize my face.
That makes sense. I think I'll watch some YouTube. I started a video of Kara and Nate.
Honestly, I need more YouTube YouTuber recommendations. I love seeing Kara and Nate. I also watch a lot of New York City vlog channels, but I feel like I need something new.
Leave your favorite channels below because I need new things to watch. But I'm going to watch this one right now. Well, it's been a few days since I've done a vlog because I've done pretty much nothing but lay in bed and rest.
I haven't gotten off the boat in one, two, three, four, five days. I won't come down tomorrow. So it's been a week since I left the ship when I can do it again.
I feel much better. We have a show tonight. I was also able to do our other show and just build on it.
And then I'll do the show tonight. Things are getting better. I definitely feel much better.
We had tech Run this morning, this afternoon actually. And now we have a couple of hours. It's already 2:45 and the call is at 5:30. So we don't have much time.
But we wanted to decorate for Christmas because on Monday, Sunday and Saturday, when Robert was in Fort Lauderdale and I couldn't get off the boat, he went to get a bunch of Christmas decorations. So the time has come to Christmasize our room. Yeah.
Let's do it. Alright. The first thing we got were some little tea lights, because of course we can't have real sails on the boat.
We got some mugs, actually this one is from Marshall's. We have some candy right now, but this one is Robert's. And this is mine.
It's so cute. I'm obsessed with it. It's like hand painted there.
Alright. Let's see what else Robert got. I haven't even looked since you bought it.
READ ALSO: Top travel agents share how to get the best price on your cruise
Oh yes. We will be careful. It's all brilliant.
Good? So that's what it could be. Yes. Can I have like mom's? Oh yeah, there's glitter on the bed.
This might be where the wallpaper clashes a little. The red. Is it time to remove the wallpaper? Like and subscribe.
Are you taking a cruise or thinking about one? Visit our Come Cruise With Me website to get answers to all your questions.
