„Tell us about your typical day“ is like asking „How much does a bear weigh?“ or „How long is a piece of string?“. There’s no such thing as a typical day when you’re on an expedition.

But to give you an idea of what I do on board, I have imagined an expedition day on which all of my typical duties happen on the same day. Not all days are as busy as this fictional one, but it can happen.

4.00 a.m.  

(This only applied in the first few days, while I was still jetlagged)

Wide awake, so I get up to write a blog post.

(No longer jetlagged, which is why blog posts have become so few and far between)

8.00 a.m.  

Get Covid tested. Covid testing is done very diligently on board. When you have 500 people all living and breathing in the same confined space, you can’t be careful enough. It’s a big risk for guests – imagine having to experience the amazing wilderness of Alaska from your cabin window! – and an even bigger risk for the crew. If the Captain goes down with Covid, who’s going to take us places?

8.10 a.m.  

Breakfast! On my first day on board, I was delighted to discover a jar of instant coffee in the mess (the mess is the place where the crew eats). Breakfast bliss.

However, there isn’t any jam, marmalade or preserve. Weird.

8.30 a.m.  

The ship usually sails over night and arrives at our destination for the day in the morning. When we have arrived, we („we“ being my fellow interpreter and me) go up to the bridge and interpret the Expedition Leader’s public announcement from English to German, welcoming our guests to XYZ, giving them some info on the weather and wishing them a lovely day.

9.00 a.m.  

We have scientists on board – an ornithologist, zoologist, geologist, historian etc. – who hold lectures for the guests, and most of the lectures are simultaneously interpreted into German. The interpretation is available to guests in the lecture hall, but it’s also streamed straight to the TVs in guest cabins. Which is neat – this way, guests get to attend the lectures without the requirement to wear a mask.

9.45 a.m.  

Lecture slots are 45 minutes. When the lecture is over, we sometimes join our scientists outside on the observation deck for wildlife watching. We’ve spotted whales and sea otters, sea lions and harbour seals, even bears and foxes, and about a gazillion different species of birds.

But we’ll also often be approached by German-speaking guests with questions, or we sit down to do some terminology work.

10.15 a.m.

A frequent activity for our guests is Zodiac boat cruising. They are taken out into the stunning fjords and along the beautiful coastlines to watch the wildlife and take in the magnificent views. There are more Zodiac boats than interpreters, so sending the interpreters along wouldn’t make sense.

But we do help out in the ‚tender pit‘ (the area where the boats are lowered into the water and guests get on and off) and do various jobs there – making public announcements that the boats are ready for boarding, scanning the guest’s cards as they leave and re-embark the vessel so we always know who’s on board and who isn’t, catching the rope and tying up the boats, or helping guests get on and off the boats.

12.00 noon        

Food!! Back to the mess for lunch. The food is surprisingly good, and there’s always a wide choice. Apparently, some people manage to lose weight while on board. Not me.

1.00 p.m.       

In addition to Zodiac boat tours, we sometimes offer shore excursions. When we’re at a port where the ship can’t dock but has to anchor outside the port, we use tender boats – small shuttle boats – to take our guests to the pier. We may be on duty for similar things as with the Zodiac operations: scanning the guests‘ cruise cards to have a record who’s on the ship and who’s on shore, helping to tie up the boats etc. – or we may help tick guests off the participant list and walk them from their meeting point on the ship to where their excursion starts.

2.30 p.m.        

Once all the guests are out on their excursions, we’re ‚off the hook‘. If we have nothing else to do, we’re free to go ashore, or, if there’s a Zodiac boat available and we can persuade one of our Zodiac captains to take us out, to go on a quick Zodiac tour. On our imaginary expedition day, I go out to shore to buy some jam.

4.00 p.m.    

On the imaginary day-in-the-life-of, me and my jar of jam have to be back on the ship by 4.00 p.m. because I volunteered to help unload provisions. I impress the head chef with how much bacon I can carry. This is where three months of weightlifting pay off!

4.30 p.m.     

There is a daily program for the guests that is published on TV screens and in the app that our guests use while on board. Every day, the team leaders prepare the program for the next day in English, and we translate it into German before it gets published.

4.33 p.m.    

We’ve only just started the translating the daily program when we get a call that one of us interpreters is needed in the ship’s medical ward because there’s a guest there who doesn’t speak English and needs an interpreter.

5.30 p.m. 

We’ve only just finished the translation as we’re approached by a German-speaking guest who wishes to make a complaint. They are very upset about something that has gone wrong. We make sure that we fully understand the complaint and that we address it to the correct person on board to get it sorted.

5.45 p.m.  

Every evening, there is a brief presentation on the place we are going to and the planned activities for the next day (called the ‚port presentation), which is translated into German. We grab whoever is holding this port presentation so they can talk us through what they will be saying and we can prepare the terminology.

6.15 p.m.

While one of us interprets the port presentation, the other one prepares for the next lecture: There is usually a scientific lecture in the evening immediately after the port presentation.

7.30 p.m. 

The one of who’s not busy interpreting attends the team meeting. Every evening, there’s a quick recap of the day and outlook and planning for the next day with the whole team.

7.45 p.m.

It suddenly occurs to me that I’m hungry so I nip down to get some food.

8.15 p.m.

The port presentation is always given twice so that anyone who has missed the first slot can still get all the information when it is given the second time around. One of us interprets the port presentation, the other one goes up to Deck 10 to cordon off an area where there will be an evening talk that we need to interpret.

8.20 p.m.

Someone has abducted our cordon post so we have to go on a wild goose chase to find it back.

9.00 p.m.

We interpret the last event of the day. After we finish, we help clear up the equipment and then sit and chit-chat with guests.

10.00 p.m.      

I finally make my way back to the cabin, where I check my own emails, go through the notes that I’ve made in the course of the day and study the programme for tomorrow.

10.30 p.m.

It suddenly occurs to me that I had promised myself I’d finally go to the gym today. I shrug and decide to go to bed instead, brush my teeth, and change into my PJs.