Life is far too crazy and hectic and busy to be writing anything just now- so instead, hear from Kelsey who is today's GUEST BLOG as she's telling you pretty much what I'm getting up to this week.
Note that the following was written entirely by Kelsey and is representative of her experiences onboard the Disney Magic - our sister ship! Not written by me!
Enjoy!
KELSEY: TRAINING ON AND OFF THE SHIP
"...But, well, here I am again. I'm working in Youth Activities on the Disney Magic for Disney Cruise Line. I'm sitting in a Starbucks in Cozumel. It's been about a week and a half of cruising, I'm still not out of training, and it feels like it's already been months. It's raining here, so wish me luck on my tromp back to the ship. I hope my bag is waterproof! I miss everyone back home, and I probably spend too much time on the ship's internet-- which costs .10/minute. Which you wouldn't think is too bad, but IT ADDS UP BELIEVE ME.
I guess, here's the summary. We got to Orlando on September 21st, and I went through Traditions again-- which is basically where Disney tries to pixie dust you, make you the ultimate Disney fangirl/boy. Which isn't hard in my case. Yes, I cried during the emotional parts. I have no shame. I knew more than most going into this, since I'd done it before, so I got the three collectible figurines within the first 15 minutes, then I sat back and let everyone else answer the questions. It was a good time. I met some people that I wish, wish, wish we'd be on the same boat. About 2/3 were going to the Dream, and me and the other 1/3 were off to the Magic.
We checked out the parks, I got to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, said hello to some old friends, and then got up at 5am on September 24th to board the ship. We all trooped on, received our staterooms... which are smaller than you can possibly imagine. They're about as big as a walk in closet, with two people living in there. My roommate is named Zelia, she's from South Africa, and she's just a little bit crazy, but she's been doing the cruise line thing for 3 years, so what do you expect.
The first week of training was alternately horrible and wonderful. I battled sea sickness, cramped spaces, long hours, and endless safety training. But I also bonded with my traditions group, of which I am one of only two Americans. It seriously is an international ship. I didn't learn much about my job just yet, only about what not to do while onboard, a few interesting tidbits about the ship:
1.) At our safety presentation (one of many) the security officer was listing off items that could not be brought onboard. Behind him was a powerpoint depiction of pictures of many of these objects. There was a gun, a chainsaw, pickaxe, knives, explosives, hard liquor… and a tricycle. A tricycle with little streamers coming out of the handlebars. Nobody thought it was as funny as I did.
2.) Again, at our safety presentation, there was a video of a guy pulling guns out of every possible concealment place in his clothing. It was to show “why we screen” when people come onto the ship. He had 20 guns on the table by the end of it, including a rifle.
3.) We get a little red ribbon that says “earning my ears” that we stick underneath our nametag so everyone knows that we’re New Hires. They all look out for us and herd us out of areas that we’re not supposed to be in or direct us to the nearest staircase to get us where we’re going (yeah, I navigate by staircase number (vertical) and fore, aft, port, and starboard (horizontal) now. Half the time I’m not sure where I am or which direction I’m facing, but when you do, you need to know your coordinates like on a graph!). Anyway, there’s a yellow line on the ground in the fore of the ship’s crew quarters that leads to the HR Training room which is where we do all of our safety training. I’m sure the line’s there because they got tired of telling New Hires how to get there… so we all follow the Yellow Line to get where we’re supposed to be. Pretty funny in my mind. Ugh, plus, the fore of the ship is the WORST for the rocking motion, which is constant.
4.) Interesting fact: The officers wear epaulettes and white uniforms. You know how high of a rank they are by how many stripes are on their epaulettes. The highest is four, and there’s only seven crew members who have that many. They’re part of the Steering Committee. Apparently it’s very rare to have a Human Resources Manager and a Cruise Director on the Steering Committee, but since Disney is committed to Entertainment (cruise director’s job) and it’s Cast Members, that’s why they’ve got such a high rank. Kinda cool, huh?
5.) I can’t have any milk in my room or anything that needs cutlery to be eaten. Buh. Rules.
6.) People can smoke in their rooms! If it sets off the fire alarm, the bridge will call their room and ask if it’s an emergency and the Crew Member just says, “nope, just taking a smoke” and they leave it be. OMG. Thank goodness my roommate doesn’t smoke
7.)
8.) I had the difficult decision of whether to throw my cap into the Oceaneer’s Club or the Oceaneer’s Lab. The Club is for kids 3-7 and the Lab is for kids 7-10. The Club is much more interactive, high energy, busy, and imaginative but it’s also loud and takes a lot of patience and constant surveillance. The Lab is much more technological, critical thinking, calmer, and the kids can really forge a bond with you, since they understand sarcasm now, but it’s a lot slower and has less interaction. I’m really torn. I wish we could switch off. My initial reaction was, I neeeeed to be put in the Lab, but my secondary reaction was I neeeeeeed to get into the Club. After vacillating for a while, I decided on the Lab, and I'm loving it so far!
9.) We're doing Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises. One goes to St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and around there. The other goes to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Key West. Both end up at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay, where there is an incredible play area for children. It's absolutely what you'd want from Disney for a beach paradise for kids!
10.) We had an environmentalism training session which pretty much said, turn off the lights, don’t use too much water, don’t flush stupid things down the toilet. But, they felt it was necessary to pass around FULL COLOR IMAGES of the shit people flush down the toilet. It was as awful as you are imagining. There was a picture of tighty whities… and I just stopped looking at them after that. Plus, later, they showed us VIDEOS of the difference between types of bleeding and burns with gushing blood and blistering skin… I was already feeling a little sea sick, so that helped a whoooooooole lot, haha.
11.) I can only have approved cleaners on the ship! Otherwise they’ll kill the bacteria in the pipes that helps purify the water.
12.) I'm in lifeboat number 1! So don’t worry. If we were told to abandon ship, I’d be the first off the boat! We do have to do a lot with the Youth Activities area first before we’re cleared to report to our lifeboat duties.
13.) Mess food is actually quite decent and my uniform is nice! The awful yellow is quite breathable and falls nicely. The pants, I drown in, but I wasn’t expecting anything form fitting, and I am loving my old lady shoes. The support is incredible.
14.) But speaking of the Mess, I’m so conscious of my health. After all of these training seminars, you realize how much of a hazard it is to have so many people in such a small space. You have to maneuver to get outside enough, and I’ve noticed that practically all the options the Mess serves is some kind of carbohydrate. Lots of potatoes, pastas, rice, and bread. They obviously think we need a lot of quickly processed energy. I’m trying to make sure I eat 2 servings of veggies, 2 of starches, 1 fruit, and 1 meat at every meal, plus getting a dairy in here and there (my stomach doesn’t like the idea of milk just yet, and there’s not a lot of yogurt or cheese to be had)… is that healthy? I’m thinking of switching it around and making it 2 of meat and 1 of carbs… or two of both? I’m trying to remember my food pyramid from elementary school, lol. But it’s all really nicely prepared! I’m sure I’ll get bored with it, but right now, I’m very impressed!
15.) Speaking of HEALTH now, I realize how much I touch my mouth. I think I have a facial fixation. They’re always telling us to limit that, and I just cannot seem to stop. That’s Freudian, isn’t it, lol. I’ve taken back my idea of being on a cruise ship during a zombie attack. NO thank you. Infection spreads way too quickly.
16.) They made us watch a documentary on Oceanos. Look it up. It was horrifying.
17.) There are codes for emergencies so as not to alert guests to what’s going on quite yet. They're very clever!
So, that was tidbits with Kelsey! I hope to upload some pictures sometime soon, but I hope that tides you guys over until then! Miss you all. Let me know if I missed anything you'd like to know more about. After I'm done training, I'll let you guys know more about what my job is like, at the moment, I'm still learning the ropes!!
-Kelsey"
